Results 101-120 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: They can draw down more than the 4% a year if they choose to at a later-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: Yes, as they draw it down.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: My understanding is that what a person can pass on to someone else is limited because it is in payout mode, for want of a better term. Only a certain percentage can be passed on to any relative thereafter. That is my understanding.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: My understanding is that if somebody was locked in from the age of 76 and needed to draw more out of the PRSA fund at 76 years of age for whatever reason, they could not draw on it because they were in the payment plan already. They were very restricted if they needed it for-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: People now work much later.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: I agree that this is the right amendment; I hope it does not change on Report Stage. It is giving people access to their money if they need it at an age quicker than they could have got it if they were locked in. That is my understanding of it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: When we are having a conversation about tax breaks or tax incentives to keep landlords in the market, we have to look at what has happened with small landlords. I referenced this earlier. For a proper, functioning housing market we need every existing player in the market to continue contributing to the supply. In the past when we had a housing market that functioned quite well, there were...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: We have all been contacted. I have not gone into the detail of it and I do not know whether it has been misunderstood or misinterpreted by some side, but reasonable GPs who provide a top-class service are concerned. This would impact the service they can provide. It seems to be impacting those who have gone to great efforts to be able to increase the service they are able to provide by...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: On section 30 and the campaign around allowances not drawn down and reliefs, could the issue of farm safety also be strengthened in the public campaign as well? We are trying to get the message on farm safety out through loads of different channels. This might be an opportunity in that campaign from the Revenue Commissioners or the Department of Finance around allowances to push that as well.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: I thank the Minister.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: It is a policy change.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: I would welcome any initiative to try to encourage a greater spend on research and development. I understand that is the motivation here. We set targets in our various science strategies to reach a higher level of spend on research and development, both public and private, but we have not reached them yet when we compare ourselves with other countries that are where we would like to be. I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: For the record, in my view, we would not be in the situation we are in as a country, with the employment levels we have, without investment in research and development and innovation. That is driving the activity in all sizes of companies. Without a doubt, there has to be research and development in both a public and private capacity. What we are trying to drive, from my understanding of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: One has to put mechanisms in place to unlock expenditure. That is true of incentives like this too. It is really important.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: They have to spend it to get it. That is the point the Deputy is missing.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: It is common knowledge.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: The figures as regards the gap between larger companies and SMEs that avail of the research and development tax credit have been out there for quite a while. This information was captured in the last two science strategies. Every policy aim has been to try to encourage more of our SMEs to tap into the opportunities presented by research and development. It is driven through local...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: A lot of them are engaging in research and development. Let us be straight now.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: We must have this conversation.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: Either we want to encourage research and development or we do not. The Deputy cannot have it both ways.