Results 5,901-5,920 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I have no issue at all with making the terms of reference of the review publicly available. I will be happy to publish them. I do not want to do it at the expense of slowing down this process but there is no reason we cannot publish the terms of reference and make them available to the Deputy. The organisation will be external to the Department of Finance, as is frequently the case with...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The cost for 2021 was €191 million. It is the case that the total cost since the scheme was introduced in 2017 was €568 million. I agree with the Deputy regarding the essential role that public or social housing needs to play in ensuring that we have an overall housing policy capable of working more effectively. That is why more than 6,000 social or public homes will be built...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The total cost of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, was €10.26 billion. The schemes have played a role in protecting the jobs of up to 690,000 people in our country.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is the person who opposed the use of vaccination certificates for the reopening of the hospitality sector. I say to him time and again that he was against the closure of our economy and country but that when we tried to reopen them safely, he was against that as well. He was against both. I accept that the lockdown lasted many months. The Government accepted the impact it had...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT on the purchase and use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. There has been ongoing engagement between officials in my Department and both the Ombudsman and the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal since 2017 and I met with members of the board in March...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said, my officials who have been in contact with the board regularly alerted me to the concerns the board had about the operation of the scheme. When I met members of the board last year, which I did via a video conference, they informed me that they had very significant concerns regarding the operation of the scheme. They emphasised what other bodies have already done, the need for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am very much aware that there are adults and children, citizens of our State, who are already grappling with such need in their lives and are expecting there to be a speedy appeal process in place. Of course I am aware of the assessments that have been offered of this scheme for so long. As I said to the House a few moments ago, I very much regret that the board members who were operating...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Policy (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Many of these businesses still have a number of months of Covid support available to them in the form of the employment wage subsidy scheme. I acknowledge that the Deputy has made a number of constructive suggestions over the last two years to change the operation of the employment wage subsidy scheme and the Covid restrictions support scheme,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy, who raised this issue with me just in the week before Christmas. Where it stands at the moment is that I will soon sign off the terms of reference for this report. We will procure an independent consultant to the Department to carry out this work. I expect that will all be done in the next few weeks.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----and why we also have the Land Development Agency in place, which the Deputy is against-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----and why we have the shared equity scheme. I am well used to this from the Deputy. I said earlier, and he knows this is the case, that where the tax is paid, that is when the income is distributed from the fund. That is where the tax is liable. It is liable at 20%. It is liable at 25%. That is where the tax is paid. This was the case with the debate we had earlier on climate. The...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Again, the Deputy will not acknowledge the reality that where the tax is paid is where the income is distributed.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I appreciate the challenges many people are facing and I know the issues the Deputy raises are ones that too many are confronting. As I said in the debate earlier on carbon taxation, to be emerging from the very dark and difficult pandemic, with all that it meant for employment and income, for many to have to confront rising prices on top of this is a bridge that is hard for many to cross....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am increasingly being struck by the tone, particularly from some Members of the Rural Independent Group, and the venom with which the word "tax" is used. It is extraordinary for a Deputy of the far left, such as Deputy Boyd Barrett, who I would have thought understands the role taxes play in providing public services on which our country depends, to do so. These are taxes that I know are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We are just bringing in measures that will increase the corporate tax rate for the largest companies - I am not sure of the turnover of these companies - by 15%. Corporate tax rates will go up. The Deputy will appreciate the challenge involved in doing this. I know he would want them to go up more. One of the reasons corporate tax rates are increasing is it is a challenge to look at how...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is important that we have this discussion in the context of overall Government housing policy, which is providing record levels of State investment for all forms of housing. However, Government expenditure alone cannot meet all the housing needs of our State. Modelling undertaken by my Department estimates that approximately €12 billion of development funding will be required...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me be clear that where tax is paid: it is paid by those who invest in these regimes. Those in REITs are subject and liable to a 25% withholding tax, while those in, or investing in, an IREF, are subjected to a 20% dividend withholding tax. That is where the tax is paid. It is paid when the person or the company investing in one of these funds gets the money back. It is taxed in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I reiterate this is a Government that is investing €4 billion annually in responding to the intense housing needs we know exist. In the aftermath of a pandemic, this is a Government that has seen its policies lead to more than 20,000 homes being built last year, more than 30,000 homes now being commenced and more than 35,000 homes having received planning permission. That is what the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----and the price of homes change so they will be able to afford to buy their first home. I accept that, but that is why we have the help to buy scheme, which the Deputy is against-----

Carbon Tax: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As other speakers have said, when we debate carbon taxation and climate change, we are, in effect, debating the future of humanity on our planet, the future of communities and peoples all over our world and, in some parts of our world, the future of their civilisation. That is what is at stake when we debate climate change and the future of our environment and our biodiversity. When...