Results 4,541-4,560 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I will not come back to the agricultural aspect of it. I ask the Minister to think about it again in advance of Report Stage and I will resubmit them on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I oppose the section because I do not believe that drip-feed taxes work in motivating people to change their approach. While I accept the principle of carbon taxes, I am opposed to this particular carbon structure approach being taken by the Government because I do not believe that a drip-feed model will motivate people to avoid paying tax and change their approach. This is an approach I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: The point I was making to the Minister before the suspension is that the carbon tax, as presently structured, is regressive from a geographical perspective. It discriminates against people residing in rural areas who do not have alternatives available to them. I made the point that a family living in this city with direct access to Dublin Bus pays a weekly carbon tax - half the households...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I want to echo the comments of Deputy Farrell in respect of data centres. I am not going to go into the argument today, as the Minister knows my views on the issue very well, but the one point I wish to add to Deputy Farrell's argument is that every other example of where there are large numbers of data centres, they are part of a very large electricity network. That is not the case in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I will come back very briefly on the comments Deputy Matthews made. He is correct about the commentary by the ESRI. If the ESRI looked at a continental European model relating to the introduction of carbon taxes, then its commentary may very well be correct. We need to design carbon taxes that reflect the actual situation here in Ireland. That is not happening and is not being looked at....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I would like to comment briefly on the Minister's responses. In terms of data centres, we all accept that the direct economic activity from data centres is minimal. Using the construction dividend in terms of it is undermining our housing programme across the country. The Minister is correct that once these data centres are completed the amount of direct jobs generated is small. In terms...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: That is because my point is twice as important.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: It must be the broadband up here.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I will comment on section 34 as well as section 32 to avoid repeating myself later. I have an issue with the worldwide harmonised light vehicle testing procedure because it is nothing more than another three-card trick. We have seen what happened previously with Volkswagen and some car manufacturers whereby they used sleight of hand in terms of the emissions from their vehicles. While we...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I know; I am watching the clock.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I accept that VRT must be charged at point of entry and it is not possible to use an actual emissions profile for that. The point I am making is that the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure is still a laboratory test. It is very dependent on the preconditions applied to the model. That model, which has been enshrined in section 32 of the legislation, is then being used in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I welcome the Minister's move in this regard. I also welcome his clarification because his comments to me yesterday were that the scheme was opened up again, which is not the case. I brought this to the Minister's attention just before we came into the meeting. The position is now that there will be no processing of the primary medical certificates until the beginning of next year when...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I have a query regarding section 6, which concerns the related issue of the primary medical certificate and disabled driver's allowance. As the Minister knows, approximately 1,500 people will be denied access to the scheme this year, and a further 150 per month will be denied access to the support because of the suspension of the issuing of primary medical certificates last June on foot of a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I welcome the Minister's comments, which are very positive, but I seek some clarity from him. According to the feedback I have received from constituents, it seems these primary medical certificates are being processed again. Will the Minister clarify that, and ensure that the HSE starts to process the certificates and deal with the backlog? My concern is that many of the staff who were...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I support the points Deputy Canney made. We are looking for the help-to-buy and the Rebuilding Ireland home loan schemes to be extended not just to new builds but also to second-hand properties. As the Minister will be aware, the census in 2016 highlighted that there are 80,000 homes vacant across the country that could have families in them. Some of these homes have fibre-optic cable...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: Following on from some of the previous comments, I wish to briefly ask the Minister a question. We are talking specifically about vacant properties here. We are not talking about second-hand homes in general. Local authorities have a list of vacant properties right across this country. Surely a mechanism can be found so that when vacant properties are being redeveloped they would eligible...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I wish to respond to the Minister's comment about local authorities. The situation in Dublin is very different from the situation in rural areas. The difficulty is that local authorities are not purchasing these vacant houses in villages and smaller towns because there is not a demand for housing in those villages. There are a number of villages with a large amount of vacant residential...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: I move amendment No. 4: In page 11, after line 34, to insert the following: “Report on options for enhancement of tax credits 11.The Minister shall, within 90 days of the passing of this Act, publish a report on options for the enhancement of tax credits that can be claimed where a person works remotely.”. I raised this issue with the Minister during the passage of the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Denis Naughten: In the context of the Minister's comments, what we will see is the hybrid model in general. We will mainly see blended working involving people working from home part of the week, possibly working from a hot-desking facility and possibly working in their main office headquarters on a less regular basis than would have been the case up to now. Flexibility and adaptability will be key. We...