Results 1,221-1,240 of 6,295 for speaker:Michael D'Arcy

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: The Deputy is deducing that they are choosing not to pay. I cannot deduce that. It is a matter for people to pay. This is the method by which it is collected. I am sorry; I am incorrect. The total number of properties is 213,000. The figure for voluntary deductions is 115,000 and in terms of the number of mandatory deductions, 97,000 are paid via their employer. The actual number is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I am not able to deduce that; the Deputy is, however.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: There are 59,000 people below the income threshold, which is €15,000 for an individual or €25,000 for a couple. I cannot comment. The tax is the tax. It is in place. I believe the collection rate is 98%. I know the Deputy disputes that figure and the tax. He has always done so. He is fairly consistent in that, but it brings in approximately €500 million in total....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: The highest form of wealth in Ireland by a country mile is in property. Multiple times deposits, share value and every other section of wealth is property. The State collects €0.5 billion out of that significant wealth. The Deputy disagrees with that. He, and his colleagues on the left, are the few people who dispute that. This is a wealth tax. As I said, the highest form of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: There are 1.92 million properties in Ireland. The current figure for involuntary payments is 97,018. In 2017, it was 90,000 and in 2016 it was 80,000. On the general question, Ireland was the only jurisdiction in the EU that did not have a property tax. Maybe Ireland was right and all of the other countries were wrong in terms of the collection of tax from property or maybe it is the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: The number of deferrals in 2016 was 55,000. In 2017, it was almost 59,000 and in 2018 it is 57,700, which means deferrals are decreasing. I do not have the percentage in this regard because during that period the number of units could have been greater. As I said there are currently 1.92 million properties but this increases or decreases as new units come on stream and some are excluded. ...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: The figure for 2015 is 46,000.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I cannot. I also made the point that from 2015 to 2018 the number of people in employment has increased such that we have almost full employment.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I would expect that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: We are in pre-budget season. Taxes are the means by which we fund State services. Deputy Barry is saying that he would prefer if people were given the opportunity to pay or not. If we were to do that with income tax or corporation tax, we would not be collecting the amount of money we are collecting and we would not have recovered from the tax revenues of a decade ago, at which time we had...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I will try to get that figure for the Deputy.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: Many of the payments come through online, which involve a lower administrative cost.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I will check that and try to get that figure for the Deputy.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I will read my departmental note first and then I will comment on the Deputies' concerns. I understand that amendments Nos. 2, 4 and 6 have been ruled out of order so I will focus on amendment No. 3 which seeks to require HBFI to prioritise certain borrowers. I am required to reject this amendment on the grounds that it would hinder the efficient delivery of funding by HBFI and may have...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: Before the Deputy continues, that is not what I am saying. There are other funding streams that will impact on Dublin. This is expected to impact on small and mid-level builders who are building smaller units that they are having difficulty in funding. It has not been tailored for Dublin only. It will operate purely on a commercial basis. Will the Deputy, please, not extract small...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: That is not the case.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: I am sorry.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: No one is changing the law to reduce standards.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Committee Stage (20 Sep 2018)

Michael D'Arcy: When statements that are wrong-----