Results 6,501-6,520 of 36,118 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Exactly. I understand from my colleagues there may be ten minutes left in that Bill so we may get caught again. I wish to finish the point I was making. From my experience and what I have seen, I hope that an accident does not come to pass but I fear it will. People should not be living in some of the homes in which they are living at present. Imagine standing in a kitchen with water...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: The Chairman might let me finish on this point. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland stated: Contrary to the need to drive down construction costs, the concrete levy announced in Budget 2023 directly increases building costs. While we understand that Government intends to seek a contribution from relevant stakeholders to the cost of remediating defective homes, in a period of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 84: "In page 188, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “Report on the impact of the Defective Concrete Products Levy on the cost, viability and affordability of construction and housing projects 87.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the Defective Concrete...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Sixty amendments in one breath.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Some of the amendments are very technical.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I do. It is important that we have a scheme that supports businesses. Deputy Boyd Barrett raised what I would like to touch on. My amendment calls for a report on the operation of the temporary business energy support scheme and options to amend its qualifying criteria and rates of payment, with reference to appropriate thresholds, such as turnover and profitability. It goes to the core...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Again, there is the cost of living.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: We will discuss credit unions on Report Stage. The argument is that there could be a carve-out in relation to credit unions. That is what has been suggested. We will look into the matter in greater detail. I am happy to park it until our discussion on Report Stage. When I spoke about cash reserves, I was not talking about having a measurement based on cash reserves. I was talking...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that. I mention a scenario where your unit price has gone up by less than 50%. In the case I gave you, Deputy Matthews's unit price had gone up by 47% and his fill had increased by €7,000. He is ineligible for the scheme. Deputy Ó Murchú's company's unit price went up by 60%, his bill went up by €9,000 and his actual bill that he will have to pay is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Where did the Department arrive at those calculations?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It is late in the day and we are coming to the end of this debate, but I would make the point that when it comes to domestic energy bills, we will continue to propose that the State should pay the difference between the reference point we are at and future prices up until the end of February. The Minister made strong arguments on that. This measure sets out that the State will pay a portion...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That is 400,000 enterprises. Does that come to about €4 billion? Would that be the upper end of the costs for this scheme? The Minister has talked about the Department's great design in terms of the certainty so is there certainty that this could not exceed €4 billion? Is that what the Minister is saying?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: There are 400,000 enterprises and each one could potentially claim €10,000. What is the cap?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: They could claim €10,000 per month. How many months will this run for?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: So each business could claim €60,000.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I understand but I am asking about the upper end of the cap. The cap is what gives you certainty, so with 400,000 enterprises it comes to €30 billion that it could cost. The only thing the cap can give certainty on is that it cannot go over €10,000 per business, which means it cannot go over €30 billion.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Of course not. Neither would I expect that the Department would expect that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Of course but the Minister made a point on the proposal we put forward which factored in a 50% increase in energy costs in December right through to the end of March, which we did not expect either but we factored in as a buffer. The Minister says the design feature in his scheme is that the cap exists but the cap only gives you certainty that it will not go over €30 billion or...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Not the cap really because what the-----