Results 141-160 of 34,135 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 83: In page 127, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 851A of Principal Act (confidentiality of taxpayer information) 94. Section 851A(8) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in paragraph (n)— (i) in subparagraph (i)(II), by the substitution of “Article 108 or 109” for “Article...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 84: In page 128, to delete lines 21 to 23 and substitute the following: “(b) the return, in respect of the chargeable period for which the assessment is amended as referred to in paragraph (a), did not contain a full and true disclosure of all material facts necessary for the making of the assessment,”. The section of the Bill, as initiated,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Does the Cathaoirleach want me to speak to Deputy Doherty's amendment No. 87 as well?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The residential zoned land tax was introduced in the Finance Act 2021 and first charged in 2025. It seeks to increase housing supply by encouraging the activation of residential development on lands that are suitably zoned and appropriately serviced. Owners of land, which was zoned for residential use and serviced on 1 January 2022, or which first became both zoned for residential use and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: A further piece of information I should have shared with the committee that might information members' thinking is the CSO has just released a publication - I apologise for coming in at this point - setting out a 30% increase in residential zoned land tax sold in 2024 compared with 2023 and 69% of the value of the land sold in 2024 was subject to the RZLT which first became payable in 2025....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 86: In page 137, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “Technical amendments to de minimis aid provisions 100. (1) The Principal Act is amended— (a) in section 216F(7), by the deletion of paragraphs (b) and (d), and (b) in section 667C(1), by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “Commission...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The 25th and 26th.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The Cathaoirleach has taken the wind out of my sails somewhat, so I will just agree with her. I thank all Deputies for participating in this. While we disagree, the amount of work everybody puts into discharging their duties well is always extremely evident. I will follow up on the matter Deputy Doherty has raised. This is really important legislation, as evidenced by the fact we have...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Doherty and wish everybody a good morning. I accept that, in the absence of indexation of tax bands and credits, it does have an effect on workers within our economy and society. At the same time, we will continue to see wage growth take place in our economy, meaning that across next year with wages going up, once workers have paid their taxes, I expect to see a net increase...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I would not accept that it is equal to a tax rise per se. I do not accept that. I understand the Deputy's line of thinking with regard to it, as I always do - it is very clear - but I have different view in relation to it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I will briefly recap why, because I think it is important to be clear about this. The way I would have understood a tax increase is that there will be a decrease in people's take-home pay as a result of different changes that are being made. We expect to see incomes grow within our economy next year. We expect that, as a result of incomes growing by and large, people's after-tax income...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: In a clarification on that, I was present with the Tánaiste when he made statements like that. Of course, I have made statements like that myself in the past but what the Tánaiste and I went on to say in the general election campaign, too, is that we would never make choices that would endanger our public finances. My hierarchy has always been, in every budget I have done, first...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: We have already seen the debate, which will continue within this, regarding the scale of the budget as it is and how big it is. Both the Tánaiste and I were very clear in many of the debates that our first priority was always the safety of our public finances. My view and that of the Government is that if we had brought forward a budget that increased capital spending by the scale in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Before I deal with the latter part of Deputy Timmins's question, I acknowledge that he has made the case to me, both privately and publicly, for continued indexation of our personal tax code. He has made the case for that and I recognise it. In relation to his question on integration between the USC and income tax, I think there would be difficulties with regard to that. If we were to do...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, I will come in to respond briefly on that. First, at least the proposals my party brought forward during the election campaign were based on the premise of indexation and the need to do that. Again and again in the election campaign I made clear that I would never do anything that would cause what I believe would be a risk to our public finances. That has always been my starting point...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for bringing this forward. Before I deal with the amendment itself, I want to put on the record of the committee the changes that have been made with regard to personal taxation over recent years. Looking at where we were in budget 2021, the entry point to the higher rate of income tax was €35,300. In budget 2025, it now stands at €44,000 for a single...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Am I speaking to all of the amendments or to the ones brought forward by Deputy Doherty? Just in the interest of focusing my comments, that is all.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I am in your hands. I just want to do justice to the different amendments, that is all.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Just on the rent tax credits.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: That is fine. On the rent tax credits, first, Deputies Doherty and Farrell are requesting a report on the rent tax credit operating in the absence of a cap on rents, making a direct comparison between the amount of the credit and rent increases. They are therefore suggesting, as has just been done, that the rent tax credit should be complemented by rent caps. However, there are currently...