Results 4,981-5,000 of 33,883 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, but they are different. It is possible that in Deputy Matthews's scenario, Deputy Doherty is right. If the cost of Deputy Matthews's bill has gone up by a smaller amount than that of a peer company - the actual value of the bill has gone up by a smaller amount than that of the company beside him - as long as the unit cost has gone up by 50%, that is what will determine whether the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: You are not if your unit price has gone up. They are different things for the purpose of the policy.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We expect it will cost up to €1.2 billion.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: From information that was shared with us by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. We have developed a number of scenarios on what the cost will be and our view is that the upper end of that cost is €1.2 billion. However, it is very difficult to be clear and certain on this. It is the best estimate available to us but it is a figure we will have to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We do not have the unit price information with us but I will get it and share it with the Deputy. The key feature in this scheme versus the cap argument we had earlier is the presence of a cap; that is the key design feature. The reason I can say we are making efforts to contain the cost is that we have a cap per individual premises on this. That is the key difference between this scheme...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Where is the Deputy getting the €4 billion figure from?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The cap is €10,000.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It will run for six months.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That depends on what their energy usage will be.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: But we do not expect-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We do not expect that the average energy use or average access to the scheme will be near the cap.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Our estimate is based on the modelling we have done with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the information it has supplied to us regarding average energy usage. That has given us guidance that gets us to the €1.2 billion figure.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: If unit costs go through the roof, the Deputy's plan means the State would be liable for all the ballooning costs beyond his cap. In this scheme, however, it is capped at €10,000. That is the difference.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a design difference. Let us say-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me finish the point. The design difference is that in the Deputy's scheme, which is for households rather than businesses-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----in a scenario whereby costs balloon, the exposure to the State is open-ended. In this scenario, if we are in an environment where costs increase by far higher than we expect, at least this scheme is capped at €10,000 or €30,000 per participant. That is the difference.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy cannot make that judgment.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I completely disagree with the Deputy.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I completely disagree with the Deputy. In all the different charges or debates I have had, I have rarely used the approach of playing the man with the Deputy. I rarely made accusations about a person. I frequently and regularly, on a daily basis, make charges around the party and not about people. The latter is an approach I rarely used in my time debating with the Deputy or anybody in...