Results 8,761-8,780 of 32,527 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Our national debt will have increased by €38 billion across a two-year period precisely because of my support for putting in place large programmes of Government spending that are funded by borrowing. The SPU anticipates a deficit of just under 5% this year, a similar figure to last year. The policy position for next year predicts a deficit of just under 3% before we make choices...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The SPU indicates that we have the ability to get over 70,000 people back to work in the second half of this year and 224,000 people back to work next year. The document to which the Deputy is referring, which is a forecasting document only, indicates that on the basis of decisions taken already, the country has the ability to get 300,000 people back working. That is what we want to do.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: In terms of the decisions that have been made by the Government to look at how we can accelerate that, as recently as yesterday, the Minister for Higher and Further Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, outlined the kind of apprenticeship programme that will be a vital element in how we retrain those who were working in some sectors of the economy and might not have many...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: President Biden is bringing forward these proposals and they have elements within them which, as I have said before, are of concern to me because of the effects they could have for small and medium-sized economies. We will engage with President Biden's team and in the OECD process. That is the best option for Ireland as it looks to put forward its case and protect policy choices that really...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: We are giving €12 billion worth of investment to support our SMEs and other employers at a time of a pandemic. While I notice the Deputy's criticism of the environment in Ireland from a research and development point of view, employer after employer has located here because they believe they can get the graduates and workforce who have the skills they need. They also believe they are...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: To answer the first point, I am not sure what defunct Marxist economist the Deputy has derived the view of, that the form of economic development that we have is akin to a Third World country transitioning to some other form. Maybe the Deputy could elaborate his point a little bit more. An investment model that has, as one of its major pillars, a service exporting sector containing within...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Thank you very much, Deputy, for your questions. I am not sure what a comparison of economic credentials does for either of us so I do not propose to do that myself. In relation to his point regarding stopping banks exiting, he might just help me with this. What policy tool would he propose I use if a large employer and a large investor in our country decides they want to go? If those...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: How does the Deputy think that would help the argument? He knows what the answer to that is. He knows that the tools are not there. He also knows that if they were to be there in some way, one cannot, on one hand, try to stop an international employer or bank leaving one's economy yet, on the other hand, encourage other employers to come into our country on the basis that we are open,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The only thing that would be worse than a government shrugging, something which this Government is not doing, is a politician putting forward ideas he or she knows cannot be implemented. One does not work with the ECB with regard to capital charges or risk weightings. These decisions are made independently by regulators, which is as it should be. Given the Deputy's references to market...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree with the Deputy very much. There is a very strong and positive case for the impact of international investment in small open economies. There is also a very strong case to be made for legitimate tax competition. It is not only big economies that aspire to be competitive. Small and medium-sized economies also aspire to be competitive. Taxation policy is an important element in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I have had an initial look at it and my Department is looking at it at the moment. My understanding is that the initiative is about facilitating payments between different banks in a more efficient way. I will get a further briefing on the proposal and revert to the Deputy and the committee.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. On his first question, the part of the departmental budget in question has been used to publish papers, for example. One such paper, published in the past 12 months and available on the Department's website, is on the impact of risk-weighted capital levels on mortgage rates within Ireland. The fund is used to develop and publish research papers. They are available on...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am similarly obliged to the make the case to the Chairman and the committee for the efforts of the Government and the effect they are having. I ask the country to have faith in our reopening strategy and to look at how many vaccinations have been administered in the country, a total of 1.1 million doses. Some 140,000 vaccinations happened last week and at least 170,000 will happen this...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, indeed. I am very much aware of the analysis the Chairman outlined regarding the additional costs that businesses will face in reopening. It is why we have had supports in place that have been successful. As I said, in the coming weeks the Government will lay out our plans for how we can strengthen and change the supports as our economy reopens. By "strengthen", I mean we will look...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. The process that led to the appointment today of the new Secretary General of the Department of Health was conducted by the Top-Level Appointments Committee, TLAC. It reached a recommendation that the Government accepted today. The Chairman raised the issue with me a little while ago of the response from various Departments to the committee. My Department did not play...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not agree with the Deputy using the language of stealing from future generations. Our approach is to try to keep current and future generations safe and healthy and protect their well-being. This has been an incredibly demanding year in which the pandemic has caused such harm to the country. The Deputy made the case that the harm caused to the country is created by weakness within the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: At each point in this crisis, with the exception of some very difficult days, the existing ICU capacity we had, combined with decisions the Government made to scale up that ICU capacity, was able to provide intensive care support to citizens when they needed it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: To deal with the Chairman's case with regard to changing the legislation in respect of the Central Bank, I will not be bringing forward proposals to change the legislation on the Central Bank such that it would have some kind of role in attracting investment or banks into our country. It is a regulator. It is its job to regulate, not to look at how it can attract banks into our country. ...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: If the Chairman is aware of a bank that is considering buying Ulster Bank and KBC Bank beyond what happened and if he is aware of further international investment and someone wanting to set up a retail presence here in Ireland he could share that with me outside of this committee.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (20 Apr 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: It is a view. I did not give the Chairman a glib answer. I gave him a serious answer that reflects the challenge we have currently in attracting and maintaining large international banks to Ireland. It is not a glib answer; it is a realistic answer. I would certainly welcome the collaboration and help of this committee in, as the Chairman said a moment ago, talking up Irish banking. It...