Results 9,261-9,280 of 36,192 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The point of this tax is not to target the poor woman of rural Ireland who was left a house or a piece of land. This is about land hoarders who are hoarding land in areas of acute need. I am not going to have that argument with the Minister again.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 164: In page 212, after line 29, to insert the following: “Report on the introduction of a vacant property tax 84.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the introduction of a vacant property tax, the prevalence of vacant residential properties across the State, and options for...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It has not been discussed with amendment No. 162.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, but we did not discuss amendment No. 162.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Same to the Vice Chairman.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: This is amendment No. 164, which the Vice Chairman has said was discussed with amendment No. 162. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The grouping fell, because the individual was not here-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The Vice Chairman is right on all of those points. We are looking for a report on the vacant property tax. The Government's Housing for All plan kicks the can down the road for another year on vacant property tax. At the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage in September, Department of Finance officials cited analysis by GeoDirectory which showed that in quarter 2 of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: When I put this forward in 2018, the Minister rejected the idea of a vacant property tax and he cited the Indecon report which recommended against a vacant property tax. Does he now believe he was wrong in that?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: However, the Minister could have gotten that data that year. That is a cop out. The Minister does not have the data now, but he is saying he will bring in a vacant property tax. He could have gotten the data that year and argued against a vacant property tax in 2018. Can he just admit it was the wrong decision at that time?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: In fairness, the Minister has changed his mind and that is a good thing. However, we have lost valuable years on vacant properties throughout the State.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister have any regrets that he did not introduce a vacant property tax earlier, despite the fact that there are 92,000 vacant properties in the State? Many of those are in areas of high need.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The Department of Finance provided those Geodirectory figures of 92,000. I am not putting my own figures out. I am saying that many of those properties are in areas of high need; I am not saying all of them are or that all of them can be used. The reality is that of those 92,000 vacant properties, many of them are in areas of high need and they could be brought into occupancy.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister have any regrets?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I do not have any indication from the Minister when there will be a vacant property tax. There is data collection ongoing. Revenue could have been asked at any point in time to collect that data and a revaluation of the local property tax was not needed to do that. The Minister has not provided a commitment of when he will introduce this. The housing crisis has gotten out of control and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: No.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The vacant property tax was not discussed yesterday. I will clarify.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: As we come to the end of Committee Stage of the Finance Bill, I want to thank all the officials who engaged with us in the briefing, when we went offline at the committee and in the preparation of any notes. They have always been cordial to us as an Opposition party over the years. I want to add to what the Minister has said about Rory. Twenty years is a long time and there have been a lot...