Results 61-80 of 483 for speaker:Edward Timmins
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: It is more than structural.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: The phrase "shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted" has been used to describe what happened post our crash in 2009. Does the Central Bank review all the rules and regulations concerning banking and mortgage applications? I ask because I have received feedback that these applications involved a lot of bureaucracy and red tape, which does not reduce the risk nor help the banking...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Does the Central Bank review that all the time?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Does that include capital ratios and stuff like that?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Has the Central Bank recommended any changes? If so, have any changes happened over the last couple of years?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: I thank the witnesses for their presentation, as always. I have seven quick, snappy questions. In relation to income tax, what is Dr. McDonnell’s view on indexation? If wage growth in the economy is 5% and inflation is 5% - though I know it is at 1% or 2% at the moment - as a taxpayer, one only ends up with 2.5% and actually has less wages. It is certainly something I would...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: The State is no worse off with that indexation. Does Dr. McDonnell have any suggestions on increasing labour market participation? We have full employment effectively but in the case of participation of people with disabilities, the ratio is only one in three or one in four. It is actually the lowest in Europe. Does Dr. McDonnell have any thoughts on increasing those participation rates?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: I can see scope in that area. The witnesses spoke earlier about the late 2020s and 2030s, about how we can see our demographics are changing, and how our pensions and healthcare costs are going to grow quite significantly over those terms. The lack of long-term budgeting is a problem. Does NERI do long-term budget forecasting for, say, five, ten or 15 years? I know it is a lot of...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Is there a benefit to doing that?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Has NERI done any work on cost control in the State's budget?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: That leads to my next question. Where would the witnesses cut costs? It is not the same thing. Do they have any suggestions about where the Government could cut costs?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: We could learn from some of our good projects, like the Dublin Airport extension. That was done for a relatively low cost.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: NERI has spoken in a lot of these forums about saving schemes and all the money that is on deposit in the State. Does Dr. McDonnell have any suggestions as to what type of saving scheme the Government should put in place?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: That is going to be risky though.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: I will take up a couple of points raised. The witnesses talk about relative poverty and mention very high earners. That may have a negative impact on someone's relative poverty, but does it really matter? Surely, it is the absolute income people receive that is relevant. If you are earning a low or medium income, does it matter if the number of multimillionaires and people with massive...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Does Mr. Nugent not get a picture or a profile of how wages are increasing?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Do they not get a breakdown of earners between €20,000 and €30,000 or between €30,000 and €40,000 and how their wages are increasing?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: Is that a relevant figure?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: But you would not expect minimum wage to match every different sector in the economy. Rent is just one part of someone's costs. It is not everything.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed) (23 Sep 2025)
Edward Timmins: And high incomes as well. That brings me to the ratio of the price of a house versus the average income. I did a quick search, and that ratio has increased by 18% in Ireland over the last ten years. I do not know if the statistics are right. That is if you take 2015 as your base year. Looking at the profile across Europe, it seems to be a Europe-wide problem. Portugal is 58%. The...