Results 14,241-14,260 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: I want to know if that impacts on the ability of the Housing Finance Agency to deliver new housing stock. That is the kind of thinking that I want a response to.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: The Department will come back to me on that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: There is compensation and there are legal costs but there is quite a sizeable amount where there was zero compensation but there were legal costs amounting to €526,000 awarded. What did that relate to?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Was that the case in this particular case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Before I go to the national debt, I want to ask about the income tax which was 1.2%, or €236 million, below profile. This year the rate of unemployment is 4.6% and it was higher than that in 2017. Does the Department have an explanation of why it is below profile? Does it understand the nature of the workforce, for example? Is that impacting on the gig economy and the likes of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Are people getting interest? Where can I go to get interest?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: The banks nearly charge customers if they have any money to deposit nowadays.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: I wish to discuss the debt to GDP ratio. I know we have a new calculation called GNI*. That is not how we are rated under the fiscal compact treaty and the legislation that followed it. Where are we in the table? What is our debt to GDP ratio?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Given that, we have the capacity to borrow when we get to that point for capital projects. Is that the case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: I am glad Mr. McCarthy said it is astronomical because we got a report earlier from the Department of Finance noting, but not concurring with, our concern about the size of our national debt. It is astronomical.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: I want to pursue another associated line. The officials have identified climate change as a risk to the economy. When Mr. McCarthy was before the committee previously he told us that by 2021 we could face fines of in the region of €600 million annually. The Government recently indicated that the fines would be in the region of €150 million. Will Mr. McCarthy explain the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: We are going to miss our targets. We know that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Was Mr. McCarthy €450 million out?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Can we get something on this?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: It is certainly a better number.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: We are missing our targets and buying credits but not dealing with the underlying issues. Is that right?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: This is relevant to capital spending and ensuring those fines do not accelerate. We saw that the Moneypoint power plant was part of the reason for the improvement in our emissions numbers last year. That was because there was a breakdown at the plant. Since our underlying figures on emissions are not improving, we cannot be sure that we can avoid exposure to greater fines. The way to deal...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: I completely agree with Mr. Moran that it is not an easy subject but carbon taxes are not the only approach.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: It not the only approach because if we built an interconnector, for example, in Dublin, we may well cut emissions from transport. That would be one projects we would get a big gain from. There is value in spending to save, although it is an expensive project.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2017
Chapter 22 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 May 2019)

Catherine Murphy: Certainly, it is difficult for people who are struggling as it is. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General identified the amount by which we are now marginally a net contributor to the European Union. A significant amount of our contribution is in respect of the Common Agricultural Policy. Brexit poses a particular risk there because the UK contributes approximately 16% of the...