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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Under review.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Maybe at the next review the banks should end the discriminatory practice against its existing customers and respect the loyalty they have to the bank and give them the same product it is offering new customers. That is all I will say. I thank the Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: The June board meeting. Were any officials or representatives of the Department of Finance present at that board meeting?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Did Bank of Ireland do an analysis of the vulnerable customers who were using branches that it decided to close?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: There is no reason for it. Unless the customer wants to give money to Bank of Ireland for the craic, is there any sound financial reason why a person should have a mortgage at a variable rate with Mr. Kelly’s bank, when there are significant savings to be made? I say that because we know that this happens in insurance, in mortgages and elsewhere, where people, unfortunately, have a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe. I will pick up on some points, starting with IFAC and then on to the ESRI. Mr. Barnes expects a surplus of €4.5 billion this year. Is that correct?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That is taking on board the €2.5 billion contingency fund put into the budget last year. That would be spent.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: To summarise, if the Government spends €2.5 billion on one-off cost-of-living measures between now and the end of the year, IFAC still projects a €4.5 billion surplus this year.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: The stance the Government set out last year in terms of expenditure would be kept.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It would stick to that but the big difference is that instead of being €8.3 billion in deficit, we would be €4.5 billion in surplus. That would be a turnaround of close to €13 billion to the better.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. The Minister stood up on the floor and said the Government expected a budget deficit next year of €8 billion and could not go back to the situation of "If we have it, we spend it". That was an issue. We had to reduce the deficit and there was a pathway there. We have seen a bonanza and a €13 billion turnaround, yet IFAC says the Government should not do anything more...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I will come on to permanent measures, but this point concerns one-off measures.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Is that always the case? Say we do not do as Mr. Barnes suggests and just use the €2.5 billion; say we use €4 billion but it is properly targeted. If you offset the price increases in energy for low-income deciles, you are not creating inflationary pressure. It is only if you do what the Government did the last time, which was 90% untargeted, that you create inflationary pressure.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: How does the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council arrive at the view that €2.5 billion is the appropriate figure for one-off measures? Is it just because that was announced last year, before we had a cost-of-living crisis, or has it carried out assessments as to the impact of this crisis on these families?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: How will it impact domestic demand, which we have seen contracting over the last while? There is also talk of a potential recession and so forth.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Does the council have a projected figure for the general Government balance for 2023?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: If we go to budget 2023 and look at the package that has been outlined, we see that there is an expenditure envelope of €2.65 billion. However, when you take away the public sector pay deal, if approved, the number is reduced to about €1.6 billion. In the context of a cost-of-living crisis, a healthcare system that is falling apart and needing more investment in housing,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Does Mr. Barnes agree with the figures I outlined? Unallocated expenditure is €2.65 billion and if the public sector pay deal goes through, it is likely to come down to approximately €1.6 billion.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Updated Economic and Fiscal Position in Advance of Budget 2023: Discussion (7 Sep 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I wish to ask the ESRI a final question.