Results 18,201-18,220 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I know the Deputy understands that. Ultimately, we will have to make choices regarding how we do all of that. The Deputy feels as strongly as I do about the need to make further progress on housing. If we stand by the need to adhere to the fiscal rules, as the Fianna Fáil Party does, it will mean making choices about how we pay for resources that become available beyond what I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: What was the first issue the Deputy raised?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy asked if I knew what the tax forecast will be for the entire year. I will have a good idea of what that figure will be at the end of next week because at that point I will have the figures for September. My officials will look at trends in the economy and give me their informed view as to what these mean for the rest of the year. To clarify my earlier point on budget overruns...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, I am coming to that. That is No. 3. I have it written down here. The Deputy asked for the underspends by Department. I do not have that available to me but I can get it for the Deputy. It is published so I will be able to get it for him quickly. The fiscal monitor outlines where we are Department by Department in respect of their profiles, so we will be able to give that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is correct - we have gone out to tender for consultants that would give me an assessment of our position on banking pay and compensation. I think that report is in the early phases of being done and that I will get it later this year. Banking policy stands as it is, which is consistent with that of the time when the Deputy was in government. A matter I increasingly have to deal...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am implementing a policy that is the same as that when the Deputy sat around the Cabinet table. All I am saying-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am answering the Deputy's question. I know she does not like to be reminded of her time in government-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: -----when I make these kinds of points to her but, as I have said to her, the policy I am implementing at present is the policy that stands. All I have said to her is that we are assessing it, and I have explained why. The reasons certain salaries exist in certain sectors are a matter of great reflection for me. Banking is a leading example. The number of international banks that have now...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I know, but, as I have already said, were there to be a change to the carbon tax, there would be effects elsewhere, particularly within our society, of which I am mindful and to which there would be an expectation of a response. That answer still stands. As for changes in general social welfare rates, the Deputy will understand, as someone who was involved in the process herself, that we...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will take the Deputy's view on board. That issue was also covered in the tax strategy group papers. It is a matter on which Deputy Heydon and the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, have strong views. Account will be taken of all of that as we make decisions next week.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It is still to be determined. I cannot divorce the costs of the implementation of Sláintecare from the funding needs of our health service as it is organised. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien would not thank me if I were to make a decision which, for example, affected the number of home help hours or the availability of nurses in our hospitals to fund a package of measures under...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a very prescient question because when a Minister for Finance engages with Departments that have an underspend in a particular year or part of year, such Departments normally assure the Minister that the money will be spent by the end of the year. That is what normally happens.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It does not always happen, to put it mildly. The reasons vary from Department to Department. The most frequent issue relates to capital expenditure in December, which can sometimes be reliant on where we are in the planning or procurement process. With procurement in particular, sometimes things can happen in December that are genuinely outside the grasp of a Department. By that point it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: On the Deputy's first question, the key factor to where we have ended up in customs and excise duties has been the pre-loading that took place in cigarettes in advance of plain packaging being introduced. As I look into the remainder of this year, the trend that has been established across the first three quarters of this year is likely to continue into the final quarter. This is certainly...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I think we will be fine in VAT. It is my expectation that we will be fine overall. While that is a lot of money for any of us, it is a very small percentage of where we are in the total tax take for VAT.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Mr. O'Brien did not seek any additional funding from me-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: From his line Minister? It works the other way around. The funding is agreed between the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. From the funding that is available, the service plan is then worked out.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It is fair to say and it is publicly known that Mr. O'Brien wrote a letter on this. With respect to the Deputy, when we are doing the budget each year, we have many stakeholders in the budgetary process who make their views known around how much additional funding is needed. It only falls to my two Departments and then to the Government to knit it all together.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2019: Minister for Finance (26 Sep 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I accept the thrust of Deputy Cowen's argument. I am not looking, nor will I present to the Deputy a narrative, to normalise this. Last year, where we ended up in terms of the scale of the Supplementary Estimate the Department received, combined with the budget allocation I made available to the Department, showed a significant improvement in comparison with where we had been the previous...