Results 5,461-5,480 of 32,433 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not looking for credit for what I have done and have never suggested I am. I am saying that if I had not taken the measure I took, then after 1 May the increase would have been larger. Is that not the case?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That is the case. If I had not done what I did, the increase after 1 May would be larger and the Deputy would criticise me for that at that point. I have avoided something happening. If I had not taken the step I took, the increase would have happened and the Deputy would be critical of that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is not that the logic is somewhere in my mind. There is logic. I will repeat it in case the Deputy is not clear on it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me conclude. I said if I had not taken the decision I took, there would have been an increase after 1 May. Because of what I did, there will not. That is not logic in my mind; it is just a statement of fact. In relation to the Deputy's question, from 1 May it is €138.17 and on 1 September it is €158.50.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: If I had not done what I did, on 1 May users of this fuel would face an increase to €158.50. Because of what I have done, they do not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me restate the facts. If I had not put in place the measures included in this finance Bill, the increase in excise would have been from €120 to €158.50.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It would have been happening on 1 May, if I had not done what I have done. I wish to be really clear about that. In the absence of the action I have taken, the increase would have been considerably larger. That is all I claimed at the time and all I claim now. That is not logic in my mind. It is not my facts or the Deputy's facts, but the facts as laid out in this legislation. Our...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I want to make sure the committee is aware a deduction is in place in relation to the carbon tax element of fuel costs. I accept that for many in our farming community at the moment, the alternative to diesel-fuelled tractors is not readily available. I know that is the case but that is why the Government has tried to help with other costs in relation to our farmers, for example, through...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is a rationale, not an excuse. I remind the Deputy, whose understanding of these matters may not be as clear as others, as he said to me earlier, that when it comes to carbon taxing, because of the tax relief in place for farmers, they have been able to claim back the tax increases that have happened in carbon since 2012. I am sure the Deputy is aware of that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is aware that due to the carbon tax we are referring to and the tax relief in place, they are able to claim that back.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: If they are making adequate profits, indeed. Despite the difficulty so many in our farming community face at the moment, the majority of members of that community are still able to claim the tax reliefs available in our Finance Acts. I reiterate the support that is there at the moment. I know it is needed. The review of contractors is under way and I expect it to be completed in advance...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I said the review would be complete by the budget.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I reiterate that due to the relief that is in place, farmers are in a position to claim back the increased carbon taxing that has happened over recent years. It is through my recognition of the challenges that contractors are facing that this review is underway.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Regarding Exchequer returns, I acknowledge that VAT receipts for the first quarter - in fairness to Deputy Nash, he used the base of 2019 as opposed to that of 2020 or 2021 - are strong. However, I would make the case that if we look at where we are with excise, we can see it is down. Excise is down for a number of reasons. The first is that we have cut the rate of excise, therefore, we...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It would be up to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Minister and his regulators to form a view on the kind of pressures energy companies face at the moment. All I would say is the fact that every other economy is facing rising prices for energy coming through from a variety of energy suppliers points to the fact that the pressures relating to the cost and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That would indeed be an appearance.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We have already commented on what an unusual event that would be. Maybe Deputy Doherty will invite Deputy Durkan along to a Sinn Féin Parliamentary Party meeting before this committee appearance is out.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: In answer to the Deputy's question and point, this is why the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, has brought forward the changes in foreshore licensing and marine planning, which is to lay the foundations for accelerating where we are with offshore wind and renewable energy. There is no doubt at all that if we want to increase our energy security, not to mention respond to the great challenge...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: One of the reasons private sector investment has not yet materialised in the way we want is that there has been uncertainty regarding where these kinds of applications would stand from a planning point of view. That is why the legislation the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, has piloted through the Oireachtas is so important. It aims to bring clarity to the licensing regime off our shores....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We are trying to avoid bringing the economy to a halt in any way as we try to find new ways in which energy can be generated. We will do that. The Deputy is right. We are not where we want to be in terms of having access to more renewable energy. We need to do better than we are doing at present. This is why I go back to the importance of the legislative change that has just been made. ...