Results 14,821-14,840 of 32,572 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Strategy Group (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that the Tax Strategy Group (TSG) is in place since the early 1990s and chaired by the Department of Finance with membership comprising senior officials and political advisers from a number of Civil Service Departments and Offices. Papers on various options for tax policy changes are prepared annually by officials. The TSG is not a decision-making body and the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax on Tobacco Products (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that if tax on roll-your-own tobacco was increased using an annual tax escalator of 10%, it would take approximately four years for the tax rate on roll-your-own tobacco to reach equivalence with cigarettes. That is providing there was no further increase in Tobacco Products Tax on cigarettes during that period.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax on Tobacco Products (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the available information is in respect of the volumes of cigarettes on which Tobacco Products Tax is paid. The clearance data for cigarettes for the years 2003 to 2017 are published on the Revenue website at the following link: www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/excise/exci se-volumes-commodity.pdf. The provisional clearances for 2018 and the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade in Tobacco (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Overall responsibility for the WHO Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products rests with my colleague, the Minister for Health.  However, I am in a position to advise the Deputy on planned traceability and security feature systems intended to secure the supply chain of tobacco products, which is one of the key elements of the Protocol.  The EU Tobacco Products Directive...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Nicotine replacement patches are subject to the 23% standard rate of VAT.  It is not legally possible to apply the zero rate of VAT to nicotine patches.  Under EU VAT law the zero rate of VAT can only be applied to those goods and services which applied at that rate on and since 1 January 1991.  As nicotine patches did not apply at a zero rate in January 1991 it...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: National Economic Dialogue (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The National Economic Dialogue will take place on 26-27 June 2019. The Dialogue will be an opportunity for stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds to consider how to optimise available resources in the interests of all citizens.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Appointments to State Boards (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: There are eight State Boards under the aegis of my Department. They are the Central Bank Commission, the Credit Union Restructuring Board, the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, Home Building Finance Ireland, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the National Asset Management Agency, the National Treasury Management Agency and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. For seven of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Social Welfare Benefits Payments (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Social welfare payments are exempt from USC and PRSI. With certain exceptions social welfare payments are subject to taxation. Section 126 (6A) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA), as amended by the Finance Act 2018, sets out certain of those social welfare payments which are exempted from income tax, as follow: "A payment which is - (a)described in column (1) of the Table to this...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Money Laundering (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the numbers of suspicious transactions reports (STRs) received from designated bodies, including financial institutions, under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Funding) Act 2010, in each of the years 2014 to 2018 and to the end of April this year, are set out in the following table. Year No. of STRs Received 2014 18,149 2015 21,358 2016...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Customs and Excise Staff (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: In September 2018, the Public Appointments Service (PAS) ran a competition to establish panels from which Clerical Officers (CO) would be assigned to Customs Trade Facilitation posts in Revenue. The specific locations for assignments from this competition were Dublin, Rosslare and Cork.  Interviews for the positions, which attracted over 3,000 applications, began in October 2018....

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Availability (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that losses which arise on the sale by a person of residential properties to a person who is not a member of the vendor’s family can be offset against gains made by that person in the year in which the sale took place or in a subsequent year.  Where a loss arises on the sale of a property by a person to a family member, relief for the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Betting Regulations (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I and my officials have had a number of meetings with a broad range of representatives from the betting industry since the budget increase in betting tax, including with those named by the Deputy. The representatives have been informed that my officials will set out analysis and options in relation to betting duty in the Tax Strategy Group paper.  As is the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Customs and Excise Protocols (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that when goods are imported into the European Union, a customs declaration is presented electronically to Revenue by the importer or by their customs agent. Based on the information contained in that declaration, the relevant taxes and customs duties are calculated automatically. Customs Duty is harmonised throughout the European Union and is charged on the customs...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Availability (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy may be aware, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade commissioned a report last year to examine the challenges facing returning Irish emigrants. The findings of the report are of relevance to the general issue raised by the Deputy. The Indecon Economic Report on Addressing Challenges Faced by Returning Irish Emigrants was published on 7 March 2018 by the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Rebates (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that no tax rebates are available in the circumstances mentioned by the Deputy.  The only residential property relief currently in operation which provides rebates of Income Tax is the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme.  For an individual to obtain relief under the HTB scheme for a residential property he or she has built or bought, the property must be newly built...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 192 to 196, inclusive, 202 and 206 together. This issue relates to a claim by community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors who have been seeking, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme. The matter was the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Home Loan Scheme (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan launched on 1 February 2018. Prior to its launch, an initial tranche of €200 million of long-term fixed-rate finance was borrowed by the Housing Finance Agency to provide funds for the scheme to local authorities.  When the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan was initially being developed it was estimated that the drawdown of loans under the scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Retirements (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 200 together. On 5 December 2017, the Government made the decision to increase the compulsory retirement age to 70, for public servants recruited prior to 1 April 2004. Primary legislation was necessary in order to bring that change into effect. It was made clear at the time that until such legislation was enacted, the compulsory retirement age...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Governmental Expenditure (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 204 and 205 together. Table 6 on page 42 of Expenditure Report 2019 sets out Ministerial Current Expenditure Ceilings out to 2021. Included within these ceilings are the estimated costs of meeting demographic pressures and the Public Service Stability Agreement. This Table shows an amount of unallocated resources of €0.61 billion for 2020 and...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Legislation (8 May 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: While the Deputy has referred to the "Data Commissioner", I assume that this question in fact relates to the recent judgment of the Court of Appeal in Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources v. Information Commissioner, and the subsequent High Court judgment in University College Cork v. Information Commissioner. The core issue in these judgments relates to the...