Results 13,061-13,080 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: Is IFAC not forgetting the potential positive impact of an economic recovery in the short term, as opposed to Government supports for the economy? Everybody agrees that those supports are desirable, good and effective for the time being. They would not compare in any way, though, with the economic performance that past experience has shown that we can achieve.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I listened with interest to the Chairperson's questions and I am learning as time goes by. I should mention that in quite a number of debates between 2011 and 2014, I had to apologise to all economists for what I was about to say about them regarding their predictions in previous years. I am not going to do that just now since we have had that experience, but I will ask a couple of related...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: Has IFAC monitored house price inflation in the past three or four years, and the last year in particular?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: What does IFAC deduce from that given it is deemed to be part of our taxation system and can be an impediment or boost to our economic growth?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I will ask about GNI*, GNP and GDP, alongside each other. How do we rate at present in terms of all three, knowing that we did not believe the GDP and GNP figures? To what extent are those three measurements in concert with each other at the present time?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: To go back to our reliance on taxes on corporation profits, to what extent does IFAC view the 15% corporation tax rate that has been mooted in debates in recent times as speculative? The final figure might be 13% or 13.5% as a bigger increase than that might disturb projections across the globe to an extent that might be unforeseen.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: Will we see, for instance, repatriation of companies across the globe? I do not envisage that but I am a modest observer and I do not know. However, it seems improbable that the impact on individual companies would be such that it would damage the companies to a totally unnecessary extent. The yield might not necessarily compensate for that. What is IFAC's view?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: Is there a danger that we might create a self-fulfilling prophecy, since this issue has preoccupied our thinking for some years? Various people around the globe have spoken as if they had intimate knowledge of the damage Irish corporation tax was doing to the international economy in the last century. It was found at the peak of the economic crash that a number of other countries had...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: Is there a danger that if we, in this country, were to conclude that we had to change, other countries would decide that because Ireland had made this particular change, they would no longer need to campaign for it? Would we damage the attractiveness of Ireland as a location for foreign direct investment, even though we need FDI on an ongoing basis?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: My final question relates to whether it is possible that a global increase in corporation tax across could bring about changes that are not anticipated at this stage, that are not desirable from the point of view of the growing economies and that may not necessarily yield the benefits anticipated in some quarters? Keeping in mind that a repatriation of all US-based companies may benefit the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: Would Mr. Barnes agree that the economy's ability to expand and recover presents the best possible option in the context of delivery in the short to medium term? I refer to prolonging the time required for the recovery of the economy by stunting its growth now. I venture that it is most essential for the economy to recover quickly, get up to full speed and into the business of delivery. If...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Protected Disclosure Legislation: Discussion (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I welcome our guests. A total of 12% of cases were successful, while 88% were unsuccessful. On what basis were the 12% successful? Was there a general theme or was there a variety of reasons? What was the most common reason for the unsuccessful cases being unsuccessful? There have been suggestions that public servants do not wish to take decisions, refuse to take decisions or delay...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Protected Disclosure Legislation: Discussion (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: How is the veracity of a case checked in the initial stages? For instance, a case could be vexatious or it could be a deeply serious case that requires urgent investigation. How is one case weighed against another? How are the rights and entitlements of the accused balanced against those of the accuser?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Protected Disclosure Legislation: Discussion (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I will mention in passing that our Constitution is slightly different to those of other countries, some of which have no constitution at all, including our next-door neighbours. The UK has the Magna Carta but it is not the same thing. The constitutional entitlements of the individual are particularly important in this country, or at least some of us think they are. Their rights must be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Protected Disclosure Legislation: Discussion (27 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I have several questions that arise from some of the answers but we will not go through them all today. I have dealt with cases that were before the courts and the WRC. I will not go through them all. I want to refer in particular to cases in which the interpersonal relationships within an organisation are particularly repugnant to an individual. A victim may have to suffer for a...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cybersecurity Policy (26 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: 57. To ask the Taoiseach his plans to upgrade the IT system in his Department and bodies under his aegis with a view to maximising the protection against hackers. [28694/21]

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Cybersecurity Policy (26 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: 58. To ask the Taoiseach if additional security measures will be taken to impede and prevent the intrusion of hackers in his Department’s IT system and to ensure an early warning system is in place which will trigger an ultimate defence. [28712/21]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cybersecurity Policy (26 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: 63. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to upgrade the IT system in his Department and bodies under his aegis with a view to maximising the protection against hackers. [28683/21]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cybersecurity Policy (26 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: 64. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if additional security measures will be taken to impede and prevent the intrusion of hackers in his Department’s IT system and to ensure an early warning system is in place which will trigger an ultimate defence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28701/21]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Cybersecurity Policy (26 May 2021)

Bernard Durkan: 74. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to upgrade the IT system in his Department and bodies under his aegis with a view to maximising the protection against hackers. [28684/21]