Results 9,801-9,820 of 32,572 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2020: Financial Resolution (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move: THAT Section 125A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999) be amended to provide for the specified rate of stamp duty in respect of an insured person in respect of relevant contracts renewed or entered into on or after 1 April 2020 and on or before 31 March 2021 and on or after 1 April 2021 in the manner and to the extent specified in the Act giving effect to this...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Let us begin with the science. I have listened to Sinn Féin quote the ESRI at length in other debates, so let us quote the report that Deputy Carthy, in his contribution earlier, said did not exist. I quote directly from the early pages of it: Moreover, a carbon tax is the most efficient way of incentivising carbon abatement; that is, of achieving a given reduction in carbon...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Doherty is well able to dole it out. He has to take the argument back. If he wants a debate, let us have a debate about this. When the next young boy or girl comes up to Sinn Féin in rural Ireland and asks what it is doing to respond to climate change, how will Sinn Féin answer with credibility? Given the increase in carbon emissions that are causing such harm to our...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Barry is correct that there is a change of circumstances with what is happening with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. I make two points on the Deputy's analysis. The first is that, with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, it does not change the fact that other countries are still eager to maximise the amount of international jobs and investment they could...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take amendments Nos. 69 and 70 together. The trading profits of companies in Ireland are generally taxed at the standard corporation tax rate of 12.5%. Some of the main features of the current corporation tax regime are its simplicity and the fact it applies to a broad base. Our growth-friendly tax system has contributed to improvements in living standards for all citizens and...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy has shared new information with me and I will look at that. I can remember the exact debate he and I had on this a couple of years ago when I said this tax credit is predicated on quality employment being made available. He asked me in the Dáil Chamber what would happen with the tax credit if that quality employment was not available. I said at that point we would have to...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge the work the Deputy has done on this matter, which he has raised in our debates on several Finance Bills. As he acknowledged, I made changes on foot of that. We debated this issue on Committee Stage. I will not repeat the arguments because the Deputy knows what they are and he knows that I take this matter seriously. As I indicated to him in the previous debate, it is my...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I was not lecturing the Deputy yesterday. We were engaged in a debate. Each of us was making political points on an important section of the Finance Bill. It was not a lecture. With regard to the amendment, the costs of assets used to generate taxable trading profits are recognised as legitimate business expenses. While these costs are not fully tax-deductible in the year they are...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I want to address some of the tax elements of this amendment. I was very pleased to work with the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to bring forward this amendment. I want to emphasise two points on it. First, this is as much a preventative measure as it is about trying to support those who have already suffered great disability due to terrible accidents on farms. We worked closely with...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: It was raised on Committee Stage that this might be subject to a further amendment from me. I have made many changes in regard to transfer pricing in previous Finance Bills that I have brought in. What has happened here is that, since the Finance Bill was published and I indicated this change, I have received contact through the Revenue Commissioners from a number of Irish companies which...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I take the Deputy’s point. I am making an offer to the Deputy in good faith, which he can take up, that when I am clearer on whether there are genuine issues that could affect employment or the registration of companies in our country and how they are structured, I will share that with him. If there is an opportunity to make changes on this matter before it goes to the Seanad, that...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 64: In page 42, to delete lines 24 to 26 and substitute the following: “(2) Subsection (1), other than paragraph (a), shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.”. This amendment is in regard to the commencement provision in section 16(2), which allows the Minister, by order, to appoint when the section comes...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 65: In page 42, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:“Acceleration of wear and tear allowances for farm safety equipment 17. (1) The Principal Act is amended—(a) in Chapter 2 of Part 9, by inserting the following section after section 285C:“Acceleration of wear and tear allowances for farm safety equipment 285D. (1) In this...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not accept the amendment before the House, which has not been touched on in the debate. I am sure we will get to the issues raised on the carbon tax later in the afternoon. I want to inform Deputies that the amendment is on a different matter. We need to put it in context. The change in carbon tax to which we are referring is equivalent to an additional €1.50 on, for...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 63: In page 41, to delete lines 22 and 23 and substitute the following: "(3) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.". To respond to the question Deputy Naughten raised with me earlier, the bands to which he referred are now published in section 32 of the Bill. The information is contained there....

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 61: In page 33, to delete lines 26 to 28 and substitute the following: "(2) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.". This is a technical amendment relating to the commencement provision in section 13, which allows the Minister, by order, to appoint when the section will come into effect.

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I apologise for interrupting but I wish to point out that amendment No. 62 does not relate to the carbon tax provision. It concerns a related policy measure to do with the taxation of vehicles. For the benefit of Deputies, the amendments relating to the carbon tax come later.

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The reason we made the changes in the PUP was exactly in recognition of the points that were made by Deputy Boyd Barrett. We brought in a scheme to support businesses that are shut or businesses that have an incredibly low level of trading because of public health guidance. However, the overwhelming majority of businesses that are on this scheme are completely shut. We have many...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal first with the amendment from Deputy Boyd Barrett. He is genuinely raising an issue concerning groups of workers severely affected by the impact of Covid-19 and who are finding it desperately hard to rebuild their incomes and to imagine getting their jobs back. This CRSS is broad in that it is available to all parts of our economy which meet two criteria. The first is that...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Primary Medical Certificates (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT on the purchase and use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. The cost of the scheme in 2019, excluding motor tax, was €72m. The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons as a driver or as a passenger and also to certain organisations....