Results 6,301-6,320 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Public Sector Staff (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 361, 362 and 363 together. I wish to inform the Deputy that none of the non-commercial State Agencies under the remit of my Department are located in, nor have public sector workers employed in roles that are based in, County Clare. Therefore, there were no public sector workers under the remit of my Department employed in any local electoral areas in County...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pension Provisions (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is asking whether early drawdown of pension funds is allowed in certain circumstances, such as leaving employment or changing professions. The main purpose of a pension fund is to provide a secure income in retirement for the pension beneficiary. The purpose of providing tax relief for pension contributions is to encourage saving - by employers, employees and the self-employed -...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The objective of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) is to support employment and maintain the link between the employer and employee insofar as is possible. The EWSS has been a key component of the Government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. It is an economy-wide scheme that operates across all sectors. In money terms, the overall support provided to-date (13th January) by...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank of Ireland is the statutory body with responsibility for the supervision of regulated financial service providers in an Irish context and I consider any potential supervisory issues as matters proper to the Central Bank. Likewise in the United Kingdom, the statutory bodies with responsibility for the supervision of regulated financial service providers such as the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Departmental Schemes (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 367, 368 and 369 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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Chair. I offer best wishes to everyone on the committee for the new year. I thank the committee for its invitation to attend. I will make some opening points on the reasons for the invitation. I will not go through my statement in full but pick out a few key points so that we can move to a discussion. I am joined by my officials Mr. Joe Cullen, principal officer with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We gave consideration as to whether further conditionality would be merited for access to the scheme, beyond where we were with turnover and tax compliance. I decided when we were introducing the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, that this would not be appropriate. The reason was that I anticipated a very low level of dividend payments, if any, being made across the period. I also had...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No, it was for different reasons. The first one was that at that point in time we had the reasons the Deputy might well imagine. There was a very low expectation of dividends being paid in the first place. This is because at each point we revised the EWSS we were doing so at moments of great economic difficulty. We moved the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, into the EWSS because of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As I have said before, it is not in the spirit of the way in which the scheme was both launched and the way in which the overwhelming majority of employers have been complying with it. However, I will only make changes with the scheme if I am confident it does not interfere with the retention of employment, and profitability is important for the retention of employment given my intention to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not currently have any evidence of this being breached either in a conspicuous or very broad way. Again, it is possible there would be businesses that were on this scheme that may have given some wage increases to some people who work there during the duration but it is unlikely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is something we will give consideration to. I await the outcome of the hearing the Deputy has made reference to before I give any further consideration to what could be done at that point. The measures I am committed to bringing in are ones that overall will increase transparency and information on the matter. I will consider whether further action is needed at the conclusion of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I briefly make the point to the Deputy that my mindset on many of these supports is not for their long-term maintenance. If he looks at the EWSS, at the moment one worker in 12 in our country is now on that scheme. At the same time, we have many employers that cannot get the staff and the workers they need. Again, I should be open with the Deputy that more than the conditionality of access...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct and a fair summary of it. That goes back to the Deputy's earlier question to me on whether further action would be merited in relation to it. As I have said, it is not the intention of these supports that were brought in to subsidise the level of insurance payments that are being made. However, these are issues that need to be considered in the context of the point he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not have that information with me. I will have to see whether there are reasons of commercial sensitivity that would preclude me from sharing that now. If there are then there will be another point at which I can share the information with the Deputy. If I can share it more quickly than that I will.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will indeed. Deputy Barry and other Deputies very frequently put parliamentary questions regarding legal and professional fees that are paid for the provision of services to the Department of Finance. Once we move beyond the period of any commercial sensitivity reasons for not sharing that information we share it. If there are no commercial reasons stopping me from sharing the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy's description of what the Government is doing, in some ways, is correct. It is not my intention that the State would remain the largest shareholder of AIB in the long term. My view is that we should be in a position where the bank is privately owned. Before we get to that point, we need to be in a position where the State is no longer the majority shareholder. We will have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: At the moment, we are a fair bit off both. We still own in excess of 70% of AIB. There are quite a few bridges to cross before we get anywhere near the State no longer being the largest shareholder in the bank. There will be many more decisions required after that before the bank is in private ownership. It is very difficult for me to put a timeframe on that. It depends on so many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Were I to indicate in that regard, it would give a public indication of the future decisions I am going to make in regard to the State's share in that bank. It is possible that further decisions could be made that would lead to a reduction in the shareholding of the bank. As to whether we would get to below 50%, I prefer not to speculate on that for now given that we are currently involved...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: If the Deputy will bear with me for a moment, I will ask my officials to get the information on how much has been repaid. As to whether any companies have indicated an intention to do that again in the future, I am not currently aware of it. I should emphasise - I know the Deputy will be aware of this - that would be something they would indicate to the Revenue Commissioners rather than to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No, it would be a bit broader than that. It would be some employers who repaid the subsidy due to ineligibility, that is, they either reached a view that they were ineligible or, in conjunction with the Revenue Commissioners, that view was reached, and some employers who voluntarily repaid the subsidy. For example, there are employers that continue to meet the Revenue threshold of being 30%...