Results 5,721-5,740 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Durkan for his question. We are seeing an increase in inflation. I believe the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, put it at 2.8% in the period to August of this year. In a sense, it was an inevitability in the immediate rebound coming out of Covid and the burst of economic activity that we have experienced on foot of the pent-up demand, as many sectors...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. That is absolutely correct. That is a key part of the strategy for the public finances that we brought forward in the summer economic statement. As the Deputy will be aware, our intention is that, by 2023, we will only be borrowing for the public capital investment programme. In fact, some of the public capital investment programme will be funded by revenues that the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. That is a really good question. In general terms, the real relevance of the measure of national debt is debt expressed as a percentage of national income. For Ireland, we have two key measures of debt, the first being as a percentage of GDP and the second being as a percentage of GNI*. Of course, the debt looks a lot more healthy as a percentage of GDP than it does as...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett. There is much to cover there and I will be as brief as I can but as helpful as I possibly can. The Deputy is right to point out that in coming to an appropriate answer on the question of recognition it is not about the Government having a conversation with itself. We do not have all the wisdom on this issue. Our country's approach to Covid was characterised by...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I will, briefly. It will be difficult to respond because that was a comprehensive tour de forceby the Deputy, although I thank him for his comments. I acknowledge what he said about the recognition issue. We will seek to deal with that as quickly as possible but I do not envisage it will be a budget day issue. We need proper engagement with trade unions and employer bodies to come up with...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for his comments and questions. His experience of working in construction comes through in the nature of his questions and the contributions he makes in the Oireachtas, and I acknowledge that. Of course, when local authorities zone land for residential development, the whole purpose is for those sites to actually be developed. There is little point in zoning new lands...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, as did a number of his colleagues. As I said earlier, it is a complex and sensitive issue. The Government acknowledges that there is a need to provide appropriate recognition for the incredible efforts by so many people across our society and economy over the past 18 months. We will strive to be as fair as we can. I also acknowledge that people...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: It needs to be in the coming weeks and certainly before the end of the year. The discussions with the social partners will get under way shortly. We have a budget to complete in the next 12 days or so. We also have the launch of the national development plan. The focus of the Minister for Finance and I over the next 12 days or so will, understandably, be on the budget. That involves an...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy who understands these figures very well. To answer his question directly, we will not be using the stronger than expected tax receipts to boost the budget day package. We do not believe that would be an appropriate or prudent thing to do. We will, therefore, stick to the framework we set out in the summer economic statement. As the Deputy noted, that involves an...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for his questions and his comments on the recognition issue, which a number of his colleagues also raised. The Deputy raised an important point on the need for remembrance and the fact we tragically lost so many people to Covid-19. It is appropriate that we recognise and remember all those we lost, including those we lost in the last 18 months not due to Covid, who were...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Chairman for her question. The answer is "Yes". In bringing forward a budget, it is important that we do not just set out the steady state and the overall amounts of money but, rather, actually lay out where the increases are going and what the new initiatives and measures in various areas are that will benefit from that funding, as well as, crucially, how that translates to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: In the context of capital funding, from next Monday when the national development plan will be announced, every Department will have multi-annual funding out to 2025. They will know exactly what they will have each year and that gives them every opportunity to plan the delivery of projects, including in ICT. There is a wide definition of what qualifies as capital expenditure. It includes...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: It will. As the Chairman acknowledged, excellent work is being done across government, including by the Department of An Taoiseach, in respect of well-being budgeting and an overall well-being framework. My Department has made significant progress in respect of non-financial measures generally, whether it be equality budgeting, well-being budgeting or green budgeting. As part of budget...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: Yes, there is no intention to increase the budget package on foot of stronger than expected tax receipts. At this point, we are planning to bring forward a budget that is consistent with the summer economic statement and I do not envisage that changing.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I will make a quick point on the previous question. Last year, we did not have a summer economic statement or a fiscal framework. We were in truly extraordinary circumstances, so this year I hope the information we have been able to provide to the committee is more meaningful and helpful. We have a degree of more certainty. With regard to secretarial assistants, is the Deputy referring...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: I thought the Deputy said secretarial assistants.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: That is fine, because there is a live issue there as well.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: On that issue, there has been engagement between my Department and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. The way in which the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission is funded is different from all the other Votes. It is given a three-year budget and that is done by means of an Act of the Oireachtas every three years, so later this year the Oireachtas will have to pass an Act providing for...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny (Resumed): Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: Yes, there is agreement in principle, which is probably the best way to describe it. The Department of Education is the primary Department on the employer side. Of course, the Department is not the direct employer of school secretaries so there is the issue that the secretaries are employed directly by schools. Many of them have to sign on during the summer and there is a wide variation in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (30 Sep 2021)

Michael McGrath: Matters in relation to revenue generated by taxation measures, including the carbon tax, are a matter for the Minister for Finance. However, I will note that alongside Budget 2021, my Department published a paper that detailed how much the carbon tax is expected to raise in 2021, the allocation of the resulting funds in line with the Programme for Government commitments, as well as detail on...