Results 4,001-4,020 of 32,432 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputies for the points they have raised. I will deal with the general issues that have been raised overall, then I will come back to the specific matter that was raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett in his intervention, some of which I have already dealt with in the answer to a parliamentary question that I provided to the Deputy. In February 2021 the Minister for Housing, Local...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputies Nash and Boyd Barrett for bringing those matters forward. The State will have to respond to the issues that have been identified in the report, just as we have played a significant role in trying to help those families that have been afflicted by the awful consequences of mica being present in their homes. However, the Government has not yet decided how we will do that. At...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: In situations where a couple is cohabiting, rather than married or in a civil partnership, each partner is treated for the purposes of income tax as a separate and unconnected individual. Because they are treated separately for tax purposes, credits, tax bands and reliefs cannot be transferred from one partner to the other. As the Deputy will be aware, the tax treatment of couples was...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course. I imagine the roots of this lie in case decisions and jurisprudence in our State. If there are any comparisons outside our jurisdiction, we will include them in a note for the committee.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to clarify who is eligible for the payment to which the section of the Finance Bill refers. From the briefing I received from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, I understand that individuals with a confirmed incorrect birth registration as of 30 September 2022 are eligible for this payment. In most cases Tusla has confirmed the incorrect...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Finance Bill deals with the taxation of these payments.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No. This just deals with the taxation status of the payments.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, it will. We are simply making clear that we are providing the legal framework that when the payments are made, they will be exempt from income tax, USC and PRSI. If the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth were to decide that another cohort deserved payments beyond 30 September 2022, those would also be tax free.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: In fairness, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is also making clear that the Minister has the ability to review the cut-off date. I do not have the detail with me today regarding the justification for that date, but it is clear that it can be reviewed. I offer full assurance to members of the committee regarding how this issue is being dealt with in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 5: In page 11, line 6, after “section 19” to insert “or 32”. Section 4 provides for an exemption from income tax for the Covid-related layoff payment, which is a payment to employees who were made redundant and who lost the opportunity to accrue reckonable service due to layoffs caused by the public health restrictions during the period 13...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with the Deputy's three questions. The statutory payment is tax-exempt. On the eligibility criteria, the payment will apply to workers who have been made redundant or who will be made redundant in the next three years and who lost the opportunity to accrue reckonable service due to layoffs caused by the Covid-19 restrictions from 13 March 2020 to 31 January 2022. The amount an...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is €10 million.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No, €10 million was made available for the scheme and €901,846 has been released.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sure whether I am going to be able to do justice to all the issues that were raised in the remaining time.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will just make three points in response to the issues raised, and I will confine them to what was said about the help-to-buy scheme before I get onto broader housing issues. The total proportion of house transactions, for the last year I have available to me, 2021, that were covered by help-to-buy was approximately 13%, up from 12.7% in 2020. I do not accept that a scheme that covers such...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am very happy to meet Deputies who I believe might actually vote for the budget or engage with me in a fair-minded manner. I do not believe Deputy Mattie McGrath-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As I have been very happy to do, I have met many other Deputies in the context of budget votes to determine whether I could gain their support. However, as I said to the Vice Chairman, Deputy Mattie McGrath, despite his best efforts-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I do appreciate that people want a quick outcome and that many of them are really worried about the future of their homes. The issue is being moved along as quickly as it can be. These are hugely complex matters with, yet again, huge amounts of money on which the State must make a decision. I am very much aware of the debate that we have just had on mica, and all of the issues that...