Results 5,921-5,940 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

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

Paschal Donohoe: Therefore, the only university heralded by Sinn Féin this evening to advance its cause regarding carbon taxing, the party's view on which I am still not clear on, a point to which I will come to in a moment, did publish a paper by one of its members of staff on carbon taxation, but many other papers from the same university acknowledge the role of carbon taxation and carbon pricing and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 79, 80, 228 and 242 together. The Disabled Drivers & Disabled Passengers Scheme (DDS) 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. The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons who also meet one of six specified medical criteria, as a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Unions (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister, I have no role in the commercial decisions made by any credit union or their representative bodies. Decisions in this regard, including those related to pensions, are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the credit unions. I have agreed to meet with the Financial Services Union and SIPTU to hear their perspectives on the pension...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Financial Services (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It has always been my intention that any regulation in this space would be appropriately comprehensive without discouraging innovation. In Ireland, as of 23 April 2021, providers of services of virtual assets such as digital assets or cryptocurrencies must legally meet anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism obligations. Thus, all virtual asset service providers...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Irish VAT law must comply with the EU VAT Directive, which directs that Member States must apply a standard VAT rate of 15% or more, and can apply up to two reduced VAT rates of 5% or more. Ireland applies the 23%, 13.5% and 9% VAT rates in this context. The standard rate of 23% applies to approximately 51% of activity, including cars, petrol, diesel, alcohol, tobacco, electrical equipment...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the VAT rating of goods and services is subject to the requirements of EU VAT law with which Irish VAT law must comply. The VAT Directive obliges each Member State to have a standard rate of VAT and also allows that a Member State may choose to have no more than two reduced rates of VAT, which may be no less than 5%, and which may be applied to certain goods and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am assured by Revenue that combating the threat which fuel fraud and the illicit alcohol and tobacco trades pose to legitimate businesses, consumers and the Exchequer continues to be a priority. Steps taken by Revenue to combat the illegal mineral oils trade include the introduction of stringent supply chain controls and reporting requirements, a rigorous programme of risk focused...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 31 together. The National Claims Information Database (NCID) was established in order to improve transparency in the insurance claims environment and to support data-driven policy making. It contains a wealth of information, including data on: the cost of premiums; the cost and frequency of claims; claims settlement; and the revenues, expenditures, and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 and 73 together. Where e-workers incur certain extra expenditure in the performance of their duties of employment remotely or from home, such as additional heating and electricity costs, there is a Revenue administrative practice in place that allows an employer to make payments up to €3.20 per day to such employees, subject to certain...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Inflation Rate (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, my Department publishes two sets of macro-economic forecasts each year, one in the spring and one in the autumn, in line with our requirements under EU law. Our spring forecasts will be published in April and set out in the Stability Programme Update. As is the norm, this will include inflation projections for the next few years. The projections will cover headline...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: “Bogus self-employment” is the description commonly given to a scenario where an individual engaged to do a job is wrongly classified as being self-employed by an employer who seeks to avoid employment related obligations. From a tax perspective, this relates to income tax, Universal Social Charge (USC) and Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) (including Employer’s PRSI)...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Finance (No.2) Act 2013 introduced the Financial Institutions Levy for the three-year period 2014 to 2016 with the purpose of enabling the banking sector to contribute to economic recovery. Finance Act 2016 extended the levy to 2021. The annual yield of this levy has been approximately €150 million. In advance of Budget 2022, and in light of the then pending lapse of the Levy, I...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Financial Services (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Ireland for Finance Action Plan 2022 was approved by the Government at its meeting on 25 January 2022. My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, Deputy Seán Fleming, published Action Plan 2022 on 3 February 2022. One of the five themes Minister Fleming has identified for Action Plan 2022 is ‘Regionalisation and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Consumer Protection (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Addressing the issue that firms offering consumer credit at the point of sale does not require authorisation by the Central Bank has been a key element of the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Retail Credit and Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2021. Committee Stage of the Bill is due to take place on the 23rd of February 2022 and the Government will put forward an amendment to the Bill...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Unions (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Since June 2021, Minister of State Fleming, who has responsibility for credit unions, has held 26 meetings with various credit union stakeholders including; - the Representative Bodies; - various collaborative ventures; - the Registrar of Credit Unions; - the Credit Union Advisory Committee and - individual credit unions These meetings have proven to be very informative and their outputs...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Unions (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Work on the Review of the Policy Framework is well advanced and we intend to issue proposals emanating from the Review for consultation shortly. As part of the Review of the Policy Framework, Minister of State Fleming has conducted extensive stakeholder engagement, meeting with the representative bodies, collaborative ventures, service providers, the Credit Union Advisory Committee, the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Universal Social Charge (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Universal Social Charge (USC) was designed and incorporated into the Irish taxation system in 2011 to replace the Health and Income Levies. Its primary purpose was to widen the tax base and to provide a steady income to the Exchequer to provide funding for public services. The USC is an individualised tax, meaning that a person’s liability to the tax is determined on the basis of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: In line with commitments in the Programme for Government, the Action Plan for Insurance Reformcontains a number of actions that aim to lower insurance costs for consumers. In this regard, under the Action Plan, my Department was tasked with examining the Central Bank’s Review of Differential Pricing in the Motor and Home Insurance Marketsand taking any appropriate actions as deemed...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Universal Social Charge (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The amount of revenue raised by the Universal Social Charge (USC) each year since its inception in 2011 is available on the Revenue website at the following link: www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/receipts/ne t-receipts.pdf For the convenience of the Deputy, the following table sets out the USC net receipts from 2011 to 2021. USC Net Receipts Year €...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Credits (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The previous tax relief in respect of rent paid was abolished in Budget 2011 and it is no longer available to those who commenced renting for the first time from 8 December 2010. This followed a recommendation in the 2009 report by the Commission on Taxation that rent relief should be discontinued. The view of the independent Commission was that, in the same manner in which mortgage interest...