Results 17,701-17,720 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic Competitiveness (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I always take the advice of Deputy Durkan seriously on matters like this. The point he makes highlights the balance that the Government must strike. On one hand there is a level of housing need that must be met. Deputy Boyd Barrett focused on it earlier, and Deputies Burton and Durkan did so in the last set of questions to me. We must build more homes to meet the existing housing need....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic Competitiveness (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will first deal with Deputy Durkan's question. I accept that the lack of affordable housing in our economy and our society not only has a very material effect on the living standards and aspirations of our citizens but it also affects our economy, the wages therein and its competitiveness. I accept the Deputy's point but this is the reason we have such a level of resources going into...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector Reform (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, my Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development published a report on local public banking at the beginning of July. The report concluded there was not a compelling case for the State to use Exchequer funding, which I remind the Deputy was approximately €150 million, to establish a new local public banking system. 12 o’clock...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with each of the points the Deputy raises with me. To respond to the first point, the most recent information available to me - and I have checked this on the back of concerns he and other Deputies have raised - is that real estate firms in 2017 were net purchasers of 1% of transacted housing stock. They are the figures. That is the effect they are having on housing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course, much of what happened across that period, 2013, 2014 and 2015, happened because our country was at such a level of exceptional economic difficulty and because we did not have investors or investment funds in Ireland that were capable of making those kinds of acquisitions themselves. I have looked at the figures for the most recent period. They are as I have just shared with the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic Competitiveness (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 17 and 108 together. As I outlined in budget 2019, the economy at a macro level is in good shape at present, with a much faster than expected recovery from the crisis. The recovery in part reflects improvements in Ireland's competitiveness in recent years, as measured by the Central Bank's real harmonised competitiveness indicator. Our...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said to Deputy Paul Murphy on the question of funding, next year we will be spending more money to deliver new homes than on housing assistance payments to support people. My Department has published a paper, to which Deputy Boyd Barrett referred, looking at how money can be better used in this area. While new homes are being built and we are trying to get housing output back up to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It is just plain wrong to say current expenditure going into housing assistance and RAS payments is getting nothing back. The payments are getting bigger year on year but they are used to provide accommodation and if we did not have those payments we would be faced with even higher levels of difficulty than we currently face, and which we want to reduce. We would be facing questions on what...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am as aware as the Deputy of the grim reality for those who find themselves in precarious rental accommodation, not to mention the reality for homeless people or those facing the risk of homelessness. The plans for next year include meeting the housing needs of over 27,000 families, of which 10,000 will be met through local authority programmes to build new homes, either through direct...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not need to be reminded of my role in respect of housing. I work as closely as possible with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to look at how to make new resources available and to ensure the appropriate policies are in place. Deputies will recall that amendments to the taxation of section 110 companies were made in the Finance Act 2016 specifically to address the issue of returns...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Union Regulation (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I struggle to see how meeting all of the requirements that I was called on to meet can justify being called lacklustre. The Central Bank and I were asked to put in place a framework under which credit unions and the credit union movement could then decide whether they wanted to be involved in funding social housing and that is what we have done. The work began in June 2016 when a review was...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Income Inequality (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department routinely assesses the impact of budgetary measures on inequality. As part of this distributional analysis, the effect of tax and welfare changes by income band is examined. This is undertaken using the Economic and Social Research Institute's, ESRI’s, SWITCH micro-simulation model. In the context of budget 2019, this analysis found that the combined tax and welfare...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Income Inequality (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Let us look at the facts. Ireland has the second most progressive tax system in the OECD. The most recent survey on income and living standards conducted by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, found that deprivation in Ireland reduced from 25.5% to 21%. A significant change in levels of inequality and income inequality, in particular, in our country has happened and that is a journey that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Income Inequality (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: This is a budget that was driven by my determination and the determination of the Government to make a difference to the lives of citizens, particularly those who need and deserve support in times of difficulty. Let us look at the figures on this. Let us challenge each of the points that the Deputy has put forward and examine what the figures are. Next year, €1.25 billion will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fiscal Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will make two points in respect of what the Deputy said. First, the rent supplement and housing assistance payments are not being used to supplement landlord profits. They are being used to provide accommodation to citizens who, in the absence of these payments, would be unable to access the accommodation they need and deserve while our social output is increasing. I have a question from...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fiscal Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: At what point do we begin to save?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fiscal Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: At what point do we being the cycle of trying to save for the challenges we could have in future? I absolutely understand the position, as does the Deputy, because I represent constituents who are dealing with anxiety and trauma in respect of their homes, lack of homes and difficulties in accessing the healthcare services that we all want them to have. That is why, for this year, we have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Union Regulation (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: A Programme for a Partnership Government recognises the potential role credit unions can play in dealing with our great housing difficulties. To that end, officials from my Department and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government have met with the credit union representative bodies on several occasions to examine how credit unions can assist in the area of social housing. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Union Regulation (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is wrong. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that one of the credit union representative bodies has now completed all the preparatory work for establishing a SPV. There were several things that I needed to do and that the Central Bank needed to do. They are now done. Those responsible within the credit union movement have a level of commitment to being involved in this. It is now up...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I fully understand the point the Deputy is making. I understand that for many of his constituents, the car is the only form of transport available to them. I understand that public transport is not always the option it would be for those in our larger cities and towns, whether it be the bus or the train. I know that is not always available. I also acknowledge that our total tax take from...