Results 11,881-11,900 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pension Levy (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 96 together. The pension fund levy was introduced in 2011 in the wake of the financial crash and at a time when the economy was in serious difficulties. Urgent action needed to be taken to preserve and boost jobs and it is an unavoidable fact that difficult economic situations require hard and very often unpopular decisions. All sectors of the economy...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Financial Services Sector (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 to 100, inclusive, together. On 18 March last I met with Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) and the CEOs of the five main retail banks, and following that meeting the banks outlined a coordinated approach, which included payment breaks on mortgages and other loans, to supporting their personal and business customers who have been impacted by the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the BPFI announced late last month over 65,000 mortgage payment breaks had been granted since the cross-bank initiative was introduced. The members of the BPFI announced on 30 April, that a further three-month extension to the current payment break will be made available to customers that continue to be directly impacted by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic....

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The legislation underpinning the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)is contained inSection 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. This makes provision for the Minister for Finance to determine the amount of the temporary wage subsidy, with the consent of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, given with the concurrence of the Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: On 9 April 2020, Revenue published an initial set of statistics on the operation of the TWSS. These statistics are available at: . The statistics cover the operation of the TWSS to 7 May. The data published include the cost of the scheme to date, numbers of employers and employees in receipt of payments under the scheme and breakdowns of the employee and employer numbers by size of business,...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Protected Disclosures (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: A comprehensive and exhaustive response to the Deputy's question is not possible and the reasons for this are set out below, along with data for published numbers of protected disclosures as required under Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. In broad terms a protected disclosure is a disclosure of information which the discloser believes may reveal wrongdoing and which came...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The flat rate expense (FRE) regime is operated by Revenue on an administrative basis where both a specific commonality of expenditure exists across an employment category and the statutory requirement for the tax deduction as set out in section 114 of the Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA) 1997 is satisfied, namely, that the expenses are wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The SBCI commissioned an external review of the organisation. EY were appointed to undertake this review following a procurement process. The EY report was due to be launched, alongside the 5 Year Strategic Plan of the SBCI, in late March. This event was postponed due to the Covid-19 crisis. The SBCI is working to reschedule this launch which is expected to occur this month.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Carbon Tax (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that the increase in the carbon tax for non auto fuels took place on the 1st of May as was legislated for in the Finance Act 2019. Set out below is some relevant context to and rationale for this decision. In my Budget 2020 financial statement I announced an increase to the rate of carbon tax from €20 to €26 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions. This...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Departmental Offices (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department of Finance does not have any offices in Counties Longford or Westmeath. The Department's offices are in Dublin, with a small cohort of staff in Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the effective “warehousing” of VAT and PAYE (Employer) liabilities is currently operational. In March this year, Revenue announced that it was suspending debt collection and the charging of interest on late payment for the January/February and March/April 2020 VAT periods and the February, March and April 2020 PAYE (Employer) periods. On 7 May...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Defence Forces Personnel (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I refer the Deputy to a similar question asked in November 2019 (PQ Ref 48005/19) which was asked by his colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath. Sections 52(1) to 52(5) of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 provide for the abatement of a public service pension where a retired public servant, whose pension is in payment, is re-employed in the public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Remuneration (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, under Article 28.11 of the Constitution, the members of the Government in office at the date of a dissolution of Dáil Éireann continue to hold Office and to carry on their duties until their successors have been appointed. Similarly, under the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No.2) Act 1977, Ministers of State in office at the date of dissolution...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Government Procurement (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Public Procurement is governed by EU and National rules. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. There is provision for pre-market discussion with suppliers and independent experts, subject to safeguards against distorting competition or violating transparency and non-discrimination...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Expenditure (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below.These subscriptions are required to support my Department in its day-to-day work and to ensure that its staff have access to the latest information on a broad range of domestic and international issues relevant to its role. My Department keeps the cost and method of subscription under review to ensure that is effective...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Data (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Due to the voluminous data produced by our Web Security Appliances, data is currently available for the top 10 most visited websites by staff working in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for July 2019 to December 2019 and from Jan 2020 to May, see details below. Please note that sites which operate in the background unbeknownst to the users which are deemed system sites e.g....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Defence Forces Remuneration (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Defence Forces personnel have received the benefits of collective pay agreements in the past and it is intended that the future remuneration of Defence Forces personnel will continue to be dealt with within this established process. It is the position that the current Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) is currently delivering pay benefits of between 7.4% and 6.2% (or up to 10% for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Remuneration (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: An impromptu meeting took place with a number of Ministers of State on the margins of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting in late 2018. There was no minute taker or official present. A request was made by a number of Ministers of State present to me, which I had no plans to facilitate. I never had any intention to change policy in this area.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Standards in Public Office Commission (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together. The Deputy is referring to recommendations made by the Standards in Public Office Commission (the Commission) in its submission to the second statutory review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (the Act). Recommendation 12 made by the Commission states, "Failure to comply with section 22 of the Act (either in relation to submitting an...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 May 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: In total the Government has agreed to an additional Covid-19 related gross funding of €1.83bn for the health sector to deal with the outbreak. As the Deputy is aware, the situation regarding the outbreak is very fluid and to date this spending has been monitored through the Health Budget Oversight Group (HBOG) comprising of officials from my Department, the Department of Health and...