Results 16,901-16,920 of 33,987 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To answer the core question regarding how we will deal with the area between the port and where the checking will take place, a traffic management system will be required to do that. A system of automatic number plate recognition will be put in place to ensure that as trucks and other vehicles are leaving the port, we can track how and when they arrive in the area within which they will be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Data (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: SARP continues to be an important incentive. As the Deputy is aware, under the Finance Act 2018, there is no change in the level of income tax relief available in 2019 for existing beneficiaries of the programme and the new cap of €1 million is scheduled to apply to such taxpayers from 1 January 2020. In bringing forward such an approach, I was mindful of the need to proceed in a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Credit Union Lending (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The credit unions are being supported precisely because we are recognising the potentially larger role they could play in the sector. A review of this has been under way and it has been led by the Central Bank because it is the regulatory body for the credit unions. I met representatives of all the credit unions a number of weeks ago in my Department and it was a very productive meeting to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The European Commission proposal for an interim digital services tax, which seeks to impose a 3% levy on the turnover of certain companies' digital activities, continues to be debated at a political level among member states. The Commission's own impact assessment of its proposed digital services tax estimated that the measure would yield approximately €5 billion per annum across all...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: My understanding is the consultation process is public and I will share that information, assuming it does not undermine our ability to project our interests within the OECD. When the work is complete, as it will be in the coming days, and when we share it with the OECD, I will share all I can with the Deputy and the committee. I do not see any reason I would be unable to share it at all,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It will take some time to do this work because of the complexity involved in trying to move this forward on a global level and the highly technical nature of it. The current timeline has the objective of a final sign-off by the end of 2020 and, after that, it will take at least two years to consider how the roadmap could be implemented domestically and internationally. Those kinds of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that in keeping with their role and responsibilities, they are strongly focused on facilitating the efficient and timely movement of legitimate trade post Brexit. During 2018, the Revenue Commissioners chaired an interdepartmental group established to consider the adequacy of port and airport infrastructure and facilities post Brexit. The group...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Credit Union Lending (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Credit unions are already allowed to offer mortgages to their members. Indeed, a number of them do. As of September, there were mortgages worth €171 million outstanding across the sector, representing a 17% increase year on year. However, the amount of mortgage lending that credit unions can engage in is limited by the Central Bank's lending regulations for credit unions, which...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Credit Union Lending (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for recognising our acknowledgement of the credit union movement and the support that we have put in place for the sector in recent years. A review of whether it would be appropriate to allow the movement to play a larger role in the provision of mortgage loans is under way. I expect that work to come to an end later this year. It is appropriate that we allow it to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Regulation (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: We are treating banks the way we treat every other business. Every other business has the ability to treat its losses in a certain way. As the Deputy will be aware, the way losses are treated on the balance sheets of banks has an impact on banks' value and ability to perform. I did not indicate at any point that our banks are unprofitable. In many cases, they have returned to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Regulation (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The research I published, which the Deputy referred to, also stated that the way taxes and losses are treated on the balance sheets of banks has a significant effect on those balance sheets. If we were to change that treatment, there would be consequences for the ability of the banks to meet the needs of customers in a more cost-effective way. The Deputy knows, of course, what would happen...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department’s budget 2019 macroeconomic forecasts, endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, incorporate, as a central scenario, that the UK will make an orderly exit from the EU with a transition period until the end of 2020. Moreover, the impact of this assumption is to lower the level of GDP by almost 2 percentage points. This in turn feeds through to the fiscal...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Regarding the Deputy's first question, the figures I have available to me are very provisional because we are only approaching the end of February. For me to be able to give the Deputy an exact read on how I believe tax revenue for this year will decline on the basis of a disorderly Brexit is very difficult to do, but I will be in a position to do this when the ESRI has completed its work. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, they have been. The Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance provided briefings to parties and Independent Deputies on the Brexit Bill last week. On Tuesday, the Cabinet agreed two further amendments I proposed to the Bill on the operation of duty free and the VAT refund scheme. That and all the other tax changes have been cleared by the Commission. I will make...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Regulation (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Corporation tax loss relief is provided for under section 396 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. It allows for losses incurred in the course of business to be accounted for when calculating the tax liability of a business. Loss relief is a long-standing feature of the Irish corporate tax system and is a standard feature of corporation tax systems in all OECD countries. It is available...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Book Sales (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Officials in the Department of Finance referred the Deputy’s question to the Central Bank of Ireland. The Central Bank have advised the following: "When a consumer takes out a loan from a regulated lender (“the original lender”) it is subject to all the relevant Irish and EU consumer protections. Most loan agreements include a clause that allows the original lender...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Costs (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Cost of Insurance Working Group is currently implementing the 33 recommendations from the 2017 Report on the Cost of Motor Insuranceand the 15 recommendations from the 2018 Report on the Cost of Employer and Public Liability Insurance. The seventh Progress Updatewas published last November and shows that of the total number of 78 separate relevant deadlines within the Action Plans of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy refers specifically to a figure of ‘almost €100 million in relief carried forward’ which he suggests could be offset against tax in future. I assume the Deputy is referring to the information provided in Row 47 of Table 3 of the 2016 Revenue report entitled ‘Analysis of High Income Individuals’, specifically with regard to the 346 cases where...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Household Debt Statistics (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Over the last decade, the household sector has undergone a significant period of active deleveraging. Since its peak of €204 billion in Q3 2008, the level of household debt has decreased by 32 per cent, or €66 billion. At end-Q3 2018, household debt stood at €137.5 billion, or €28,316 per capita, and is now at its lowest level since Q3 2005. Irish household...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Costs (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 37 together. As outlined to the Deputy in previous PQ responses (including PQs 7359/19, 48428/18 and 40780/18), stakeholder consultation formed the foundation upon which the two primary reports of the Cost of Insurance Working Group and the accompanying recommendations were developed. This consultation process involved a wide range of stakeholders...