Results 14,961-14,980 of 32,572 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The projections are lower than what the figures will be. The figure of 1.5% the Deputy cited takes account of demographics, pre-existing commitments and so on. There is a view that it should be assumed that budgetary decisions that normally happen will continue into the future. I take a different view. If that is the path we go down, we will get to a point where a Minister for Finance in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Health expenditure for January, February and March was on profile. It was what the Department indicated it would be. It is the case, as the Deputy well knows, that for every other year, we have had Supplementary Estimates in the Department of Health. Last year, the Supplementary Estimate was far higher than previously. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and I have spoken about this....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I was simply saying that for now, I cannot give the committee an assessment of where our capital ceilings might be for next year, beyond saying that we have a capital expenditure increase of approximately 10% or 11% already baked in for next year. We already have that provisioned in our figures for next year. All I was suggesting was that it is entirely possible that it might take some...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The first thing I want to do is to collect this surplus. My first objective is to make sure it is delivered. What I want to do with it is grow it into next year. We will deal with this in more detail in the summer economic statement but a fair chunk of the surplus of 0.2% is coming through what we think might happen with corporation tax during the year. Our economy should be in a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is difficult for us to give a view of the economic effects of climate change on our economy. However, on page 49 of our document we have called out climate change and our renewable energy targets as representing a high risk for the economy in the medium term. The Department and I decided that we would call this out as being a risk in a way that we have not done in the past. It is...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Heydon raises a very topical issue. At the most recent informal finance Ministers' meeting we had in Romania, this was a subject for discussion. As the Deputy has said, the European Commission has indicated again that it will publish proposals to remove the principle of unanimity from taxation decision making in the future. It is apparent to me that for all kinds of different...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: This is something on which we will have to engage with the European Commission. There is a requirement to have our budgets in at a particular point in the semester. I am not saying that I have made a decision on it but the value of Irish budgets in recent years has been that we have been able to indicate certainty regarding where we stand. The Deputies have raised issues regarding...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: For my what, sorry?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Thank you.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: This Dáil and Government have acted with more urgency than we sometimes get credit for, particularly when it comes to tax policy. It is to the credit of Deputy Boyd Barrett and Deputy Lahart and his party that they have been willing to support measures like that. In the period that led up to the crash decisions that narrowed the tax base were never reversed when times were good. We...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: They are both happening.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: They are both funded and anybody who thinks O'Devaney Gardens is small scale should come out and see what is happening there. They are all examples of things that are happening. Of course we could be more radical and do more but the question is whether we can build a majority of votes to do that.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, it did.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That point is fair. Other parts of the economy need to play their part and this is why the all-economy plan that the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment is putting together will be important because all parts of our economy have to play a role. I agree with the Deputy on that. No Government on its own will be able to respond to the significant challenge of climate...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: There have been two formal meetings, with officials on both sides. We have had only two because there is little point in meeting in January or February because there is a time lag before we can see exactly where expenditure has been and from the end of February up to this point we have had two formal meetings on the subject and the Minister and I will meet again towards the end of April....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is too early in the year for us to form a view on it. January, February and March were on profile. January and February health expenditure was below what we have seen previously. March expenditure was a bit higher than before. One of the many lessons I have learnt from what happened in the past 12 months is the need for us to continue to engage on this issue and have an aligned...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It was across all parts of the Vote. In January and February, the health expenditure was lower than those months in the previous year and it was a bit higher in March. To break that down, we then look at where we are by hospital group and by different parts of the HSE. There is a further time lag before that becomes available to us, normally a couple of weeks. As we move into April and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I aim to ensure that their neighbour is paying property tax in the same way that they are. I aim to have that in place for the revaluation that will take place towards the end of next year. I am well aware of the issue that the Deputy raises. I am also aware of what has happened and of revaluation points for taxes such as this all over the world. The Deputy should look at the report I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: While it is far too early to say, I expect that the majority of the additional yield will come from new homes that are brought into the tax base. An essential thing that we should be able to do is to demonstrate that all properties are taxed the same regardless of when they were built. For example, if we said that we wanted to bring new homes into the local property tax-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform (18 Apr 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is the point. If we brought them in at present value, that would automatically mean that all homes built before that point have to be taxed in the same way, which would mean an immediate increase in yield from existing homes. We looked at an alternative way of doing it, to see if there would be a way to ascribe a nominal value to homes that have been built since 2013 and to use the...