Results 8,241-8,260 of 32,527 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic and Social Research Institute (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputies for the different questions. In response to Deputy Nash, the answer is yes, I do. I am well aware of all the challenges faced by so many with regard to housing. We are putting in place a huge amount of additional investment to respond to it. I will say to Deputy Connolly that I am aware of it and I have read it. I agree with some but not all of it. Am I going to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic and Social Research Institute (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I have beliefs about the value of our society and great beliefs regarding the role of a strong State to meet the needs of our society. That is what I, this Government and the previous Government have been working so hard to do in responding to the many needs and challenges we know are there for our citizens in finding the homes they need at affordable prices and rents. I acknowledge that we...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: One of the Department’s main concerns is to ensure that SMEs have access to sufficient lending or liquidity and that access to credit for SMEs is maintained. The Government has announced a range of measures to assist companies to deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 restrictions and to ensure that they have access to sufficient liquidity. Lenders are obliged, under the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I respectfully suggest to the Deputy that I do not believe my answer missed the question she put to me. She asked me a question about credit scores. I made the point that we have credit records rather than credit scores and I outlined the way in which that would be dealt with by banks and by the regulator. A point on which I agree with the Deputy is that we, of course, want to put in place...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Vacant Sites (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: If I look at the performance of the vacant site levy, 89 sites were valued at €132 million in 2018. They were liable at the 3% rate in 2019 in respect of their valuation for 2018. For 2019, those 89 sites grew to 181 sites and, in 2020, grew further to 215 sites. Demand letters were issued for 79 of those 215 sites and, as the Deputy has said, €21,000 in payments was received...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Vacant Sites (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe I have seen the piece of correspondence to which the Deputy has referred but just in case I have not, I would be happy to consider it if she could share it with me this evening by handing it to me during a division or later on. I am aware of a few models in respect of this issue. The Deputy correctly made the point that this is not about how we would generate revenue, it is about...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic and Social Research Institute (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 55, 82 and 131 together. The Deputy has offered a view about my view towards deficits. We ran a deficit last year of €18.5 billion. The deficit this year, expressed as a percentage of our GDP, will be larger than the deficit for last year. I am well aware of the role of deficits and Government borrowing in stepping in to support our economy....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Union (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The European semester is a mechanism to co-ordinate economic policies across EU member states to help achieve overall economic stability and growth. On 2 June, the European Commission published the 2021 European semester spring package. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, this exceptional semester cycle has been adapted to facilitate the implementation of the recovery and resilience...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Union (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Barry is correct that at other points the country-specific recommendations referred to how we can get young people trained and back into good jobs quickly after being unemployed. This is important in the context of this pandemic because young people have seen such a big change in their incomes and such a loss of jobs. I assure the Dáil that any plans we put together will be...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Union (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Many of the various training and educational programmes announced by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, earlier in this pandemic have been implemented. For example, we have had good uptake in the apprenticeship and training programmes that have been put in place. The Minister for Social Protection has said that as we get to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Vacant Sites (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Under the vacant site levy provisions of the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local authority...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The strategy we will be implementing is a continuation of what we have done to date. First, in bilateral engagements with many Ministers, including the US Secretary of the Treasury, Ms Yellen, we will continue to make the case for legitimate tax competition within certain boundaries, with a recognition of the role that our rate plays for our country. Second, inside the OECD process that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Doherty first asked if I anticipate that the potential global minimum effective tax rate will cover more companies than are currently encompassed in the G7 communiqué. That is a possibility but the case that we will be making is that regardless of where the rate ends up, if a rate is agreed at a global level, it should only apply to the very largest companies. As Deputy Doherty...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Doherty for his further question on pillar 2. There is no further detail beyond the communiqué to which Deputy Doherty referred. The main element of the statement from the G7 refers to the annual global turnover threshold. Beyond that, there is no further detail agreed between the G7 economies. That will happen within the OECD. The detail will be determined within the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his question. I am not in a position to comment on the tax affairs of any particular company. Obviously what is driving the process overall is the understandable issue, namely, to address the gap between how tax structures are currently developed across the world and the increasingly digital nature of the global economy. Deputy Doherty asked whether the Department...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am both publicly and privately making the case for the kind of agreement that Ireland would be willing to support. I am talking about my views on the rates and on the need for an agreement that accommodates small and medium-sized economies and not just the larger ones. In terms of what I believe an acceptable model could look like later on in the year, if agreement can be reached, it is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 53 together.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I was not informed of that guidance but I am in the hands of the Ceann Comhairle and I am happy to deal with these questions in whatever way he sees fit.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am happy to be guided by the Ceann Comhairle and to deal with the questions in the way he sees fit.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I welcome the opportunity to brief the Dáil on the international tax discussions on foot of the G7 meeting, which I attended in my role as president of the Eurogroup. It is important to stress that the Government believes that it is in everyone’s interest to achieve a sustainable, ambitious and equitable agreement on modernising the framework for international tax to reflect...