Results 5,301-5,320 of 33,883 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Our budget deficit in 2010 was €48.8 billion. That is the figure. Why were we not in a position for the State to directly buy and keep all of the housing stock that Deputy Boyd Barrett has referred to? It is because at that point, our budget deficit was just under €49 billion. Two years later, it did improve to just under €19 billion. If the Deputy wants the answer...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Sinn Féin councillors vote against the building of new homes. They vote against it. I see it with my own-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I see it with my own eyes. I saw how the O'Devaney Gardens development, within my constituency, has been delayed. The delay has been caused by other factors also, absolutely, including the collapse in the global economy and the Irish economy. It has, however, been delayed and delayed again because Sinn Féin councillors voted against it. They vote against any housing projects of scale...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Well certainly within parts of the city that I represent it is true and I see it again and again. Let me withdraw what I said there a moment ago because I do not have the figures in front of me to back up a nationwide claim but I have the experience in front of me to back up a citywide claim. Sinn Féin councillors continually vote against the provision of more homes in the city of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will begin with the issues Deputy Boyd Barrett has put to me. I assume people will be living in the empty apartments in the block the Deputy referred to at a point in the near future. I hope so.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I hope the empty apartments that were built by a developer and are owned by the private sector will have people living in them soon who need a home. I am really surprised to hear that there are apartments that are vacant in the way that the Deputy described for as long as he has described. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the Deputy is saying.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No, I do not doubt the truthfulness of what the Deputy says but I am respectfully making the point that there are families elsewhere in the city and in the Deputy's constituency who I hope will be able to move into those properties and they will be a home for them. That is part of what we need. We need a private sector that will build more homes. When the homes are built, if the ownership...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: There the Deputy goes again. They he goes again.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy just cannot handle a riposte or a case made back against him even in the gentle tones of mine at 9 p.m. He just cannot handle it. I make the case to him again, and it is great that the Sinn Féin budget is back on its website and I thank the Deputy for doing that, that if I was to look at all the alternative budgets that it has done in recent years, every single one argued...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am conscious of the time.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That is fine.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will go beyond 10 p.m., if that is okay, because I will refer to the variety of issues that have been raised. I will respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett first, acknowledge the points made by Deputy Ó Murchú and conclude with those made by Deputy Matthews. I have taken a real interest in this matter prompted by two things. First, Deputy Boyd Barrett raised a number of issues with me,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Okay. He may have briefly acknowledged it-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: You would honestly think that Deputies Matthews, Ó Murchú and Boyd Barrett were talking about different industries and sectors. I am saying all this because my Department and I are very interested in the application of this credit. In all honesty, shortly after, or maybe around the time of, the different committee hearings referred to, my Department met SIPTU and Screen Guilds of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Happy birthday.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Collection (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. We have been engaging with the European Commission, particularly in respect of the VAT directive that was introduced earlier in the year. The engagement we have had with the OECD has concentrated on other areas of taxation rather than the area to which the Deputy has referred. As I said, this is a new area of flexibility that has been granted to us. We are going to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Business Supports (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am virtually positive that is the case but I will come back to the Deputy to confirm that. I will provide that full clarification when we are debating the Finance Bill. As I have said, if businesses have a trading relationship with the Revenue Commissioners under case I, they are included in the scheme. There are some positive signals on the design of the scheme. The feedback is that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Collection (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 117 together. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has informed me that the draft maps indicating the land that falls within the scope of the RZLT were published by all 31 local authorities in respect of land within their administrative areas on 1 November 2022. These maps are available on the websites of each local authority...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Collection (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I engaged with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when we were bringing in the changes. In fairness to the Minister, he raised the same issues the Deputy has just raised a year ago when we were designing this new tax. He raised the issue of land in smaller towns that could be owned by farmers and is zoned for residential use. Our judgment - the Deputy will know this better...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Collection (10 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I hope the last recourse in this regard will be the involvement of An Bord Pleanála, which is having enough demands placed on it. Like the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I want and expect any questions or concerns regarding the status of land to be dealt with by local authorities. It should not involve having to use An Bord Pleanála in any way. The Minister...