Results 6,061-6,080 of 10,964 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: One of the criticisms that has been levelled against the Department and the Revenue Commissioners by some people in this House, and even people with dual roles, is that Ireland is a soft touch. It is suggested that companies can come into Ireland and create employment but avoid paying tax, albeit through legitimate methods of negotiation or whatnot with the Revenue Commissioners. From the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is cyclical.

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: So the suggestion that there is some sort of a wink and a nod and that the Revenue Commissioners are flying blind and when they get this kind of money it is kind of wink and nudge - that is really just a puff of smoke, is it not?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I wish to come back to something Mr. Moran said about the multinational sector. He said it was capital-intensive. As someone who has worked in a pharmaceutical company, I agree with that. When it is as intensively based in capital as it is, is it not fair to say there is room for further employment to be created there? Just because we have not seen massive growth in jobs in the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Given that the multinational sector is not homogenous, is it not fair to say that any comparison between the multinational sector and the construction of houses is just ridiculous?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: While the figure of approximately 15% of the tax take happens to coincide with a similar figure for stamp duty and capital gains tax at the height of the boom, is drawing a comparison between the two of them not just ridiculous?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: On the forecast that was done, Mr. McCarthy referred to the letter he received from the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr. Cody. I return to his previous point about the patent cliff a few years ago. Is there anything similar to the patent cliff on the horizon? Is there anything of that nature out there that the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Finance or IDA Ireland are...

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: On the flip side, is Mr. McCarthy aware of anything for the next 12 months or so that might result in those receipts growing even further in the future or does he believe they have plateaued?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I wish to go back to a previous point Mr. McCarthy made about the growth rate in the SME sector. How does the multinational sector compare to the SME sector?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Does that tie in to the growth in VAT receipts, which is up by about €1 billion? Is there a correlation with VAT?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Is there anything in particular driving those VAT receipts?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Does any one aspect jump out?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Are the Department and Revenue kept abreast of those things? Based on economic modelling, is the Department aware from the dialogue Revenue has with each of the individual case holders of changes that are likely?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: So there are no shocks of that nature for these figures.

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: In regard to shocks, the country suffered a huge shock when we relied entirely on the construction of houses, selling them to each other, and the stamp duty and everything else surrounding that. How are we insulated now from another property bubble or a collapse of a different kind? What have we done differently or how are we insulated to make sure that if one sector collapses, in the way...

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Is the Department happy that based on what we have control over within our own jurisdiction, there have been sufficient structural changes and insulation put in place so that we will not wind up again with an over-reliance on one sector? Yes, I think that is the case. We are clearly making progress in reducing the deficit and that will allow us build up buffers so that we can implement...

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: I have one further question regarding stamp duty. I note the stamp duty receipts for 2015 are marginally down on 2014. What is the state of our construction industry? Obviously, much of this would be relative to the construction sector. Is there scope for much improvement in that sector and is there much improvement on the horizon?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: If we strip that out, is everything else stagnant?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014 (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: Thank you.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Basic Payment Scheme Payments (3 Dec 2015)

Patrick O'Donovan: 113. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a payment under the basic payment scheme will be made to a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43208/15]