Results 17,341-17,360 of 32,610 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: No it does not but the standard fund threshold and the way it is implemented has been carefully put in place to deal with the very large benefits that accrue to a number of people as a result of the interaction between our tax system and the amount of money that people put away for the future. There is only one of them and it is applied to the fund rather than the income. If we came to a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to comment on a related policy area and signal my intention to bring forward a minor technical amendment on Report Stage to correct a ministerial reference in the Forestry Act 1988. The proposed amendment is technical in nature and is intended to clarify that pension payments to be made to former civil servants under that Act are to be made by the Minister for Finance rather than the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge that many options were set out in the report of the working group on the tax and fiscal treatment of rental accommodation providers. Deputy McGrath and his party called for these options to be implemented as part of the budget. As the Deputy is aware, for reasons primarily relating to cost I was not in a position to put in place the two additional measures outlined. I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: By virtue of some of the changes I have made in the past two budgets, it is evident that I acknowledge how tax policy has a role to play in the rental sector. However, I need to be careful not to put in place measures that absorb large amounts of resources. For example, the proposal to grant tax relief to any long-term leases within the State has the potential, in the most extreme scenario,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will respond in the same spirit. We had a debate about this. In that debate, I outlined to the Deputy how progressive I believe our income transfers already are. The committee will be aware that in the coming period, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will publish a social impact assessment of budget 2019. I believe that and other measures which were announced on...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. I spoke on this in a related section earlier today. I do not propose to accept the amendment mainly because my Department and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection published a report on this a number of months ago. We have already done it. I know there are differing views on the conclusions that we reached and the data in them but such a report was...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The report which was published attempts on page 18 to provide an analysis with regard to the potential loss to the Exchequer. It looks at it for different income levels per worker and seeks to work out the potential loss in revenue to the State. Its conclusion states these data indicate that the potential loss to the Exchequer for a person engaged in work at a rate equivalent to the average...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: If I could anchor the algebra in more prosaic words, it is the view of the Department that, at an aggregate level, the data are not indicative of a significant increase in the prevalence of self-employment in the economy over the past 16 years. That said, the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection is examining this matter. It held its first hearing on the issue today....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Message to Dáil (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Indeed. I will add to what has been said by the Chairman, Deputy Doherty and others. I thank everyone for the way in which this business was conducted. There are differing views. We have been here since 9.30 a.m. yesterday and have worked our way through a long Bill. I have done my best to respond to the issues that have been raised. I thank all of the staff from Revenue and the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Bank Codes of Conduct (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I have already stated previously and to clarify for the Deputy, the Irish Banking Culture Board is a private initiative from the banking industry in Ireland aimed at rebuilding trust and confidence in the industry following the tracker mortgage scandal, and as such it is not within the remit of my Department nor the Central Bank as regulator. It is intended that the Irish Banking...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Bank Codes of Conduct (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, I have long been on the record as stating that there are cultural failings in the banking sector that must be addressed. I and my colleagues in Government are supportive of measures to change behaviour, operations and organisational culture within the financial sector, in order to keep the customer at the heart of its operations. The Central Bank's proposals...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: EU Issues (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 41 and 45 together. The Deputy will be aware that the Commission proposal for an interim Digital Services Tax, which imposes a 3% levy on the turnover of certain companies’ digital activities, is currently being debated among Member States – both at a technical and political level. The Revenue carried out an analysis of the impact of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: European Central Bank (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: At its most recent meeting on 25 October 2018, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) confirmed that it will continue to make net purchases under the Asset Purchase Programme (APP), also known as Quantitative Easing (QE), at the new pace of €15 billion per month until the end of 2018. Subject to incoming data regarding the medium-term inflation outlook, the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Financial Services Sector (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There has been much discussion in recent years about Blockchain and the potential impact it may have on many sectors, such as the financial services industry. Blockchain technology, or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), is still in the early stages of development. Proof of concepts so far have shown the potential to deliver significant benefits in financial services and other sectors...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Fiscal Policy (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I have previously outlined, the concept of ‘fiscal space’ is no longer an appropriate one. This is because a myopic focus on what is technically permissible under the fiscal rules would lead to pro-cyclical budgetary policies that jeopardise the sustainability of our public finances. As such, in formulating budgetary policy the Government is instead guided by the fiscal...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Claims Agency (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 47 together. Setanta Insurance was placed into liquidation by the Malta Financial Services Authority on 30 April 2014. As it was a Maltese incorporated company, the liquidation is being carried out under Maltese law. The Deputy will be aware that the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2018 (Act 21 of 2018) was signed into law in July this year. The Act...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Negotiations (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Ireland's Brexit priorities are well known and include protecting the Northern Ireland Peace Process, minimising the impact on trade and the economy, maintaining the Common Travel Area and working to influencing the future of the European Union. We are now in the final stages of Article 50 negotiations and there is a need to conclude work on the Irish Protocol to ensure that all elements...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Union Lending (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, new Investment Regulations for Credit Unions have only recently come into effect which have enabled the sector for the first time to invest in Tier 3 Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). The introduction of this new Investment Framework was the result of extensive engagement between officials from my Department, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Data (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank has advised that, apart from periodic data published by the Bank on mortgage lending (including for first time buyers) since the commencement of the Central Bank’s Macro Prudential Mortgage Lending Rules in 2015 (the most recent such publication which is for H1 2018 is attached: www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/publications/financia...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Credits (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that a Tax Credit Certificate in respect of the person in question issued to her employer on 2 November 2018. A copy of the Certificate also issued to the person at her home address. The Certificate issued on a ‘Week 1 basis’ as Revenue records did not include full information in respect of the person’s employment in 2018 to enable it to be issued...