Results 1,881-1,900 of 6,295 for speaker:Michael D'Arcy

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: The four or five company institutions I am talking about are widely-held funds. They are not-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: I am giving the information that is available to the Department.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: The majority of investors in IREFs are pension funds - these four or five - that have the opportunity to avail of the 20% withholding tax for the next year. The vulture funds to which Deputy Pearse Doherty refers were caught under the personal portfolio Irish real estate fund, PPIREF, changes introduced on Report Stage last year. They did not get the benefit of those because they were...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: The people who invest in IREFs do so through pension funds, so they are widely held. They are institutional investors.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: No. There are 100 IREFs. Where they have investors, these tend to be pension funds and the like. The four or five that have benefited from the 20% withholding tax relief are, as the Deputy and I would understand them, primarily widely-held pension funds and not vulture funds. If the committee wishes, we can provide a technical briefing in private session.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: I will provide the note.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: We think four to five of them are not PPIREFs and will have the opportunity to avail of the exemption. The other 95 are PPIREFs.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: No.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: The Department's officials would like the opportunity to analyse he interpretation of what we proceed with here before Report Stage. They will consider how this fits into the existing legislation and how the amendment will work. If they feel it is necessary to amend the section further, we can take that opportunity on Report Stage in the same way that the PPIREFs were brought forward at...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: If I may allay any fears the Deputy may have, we do not intend to spring anything at a later stage. We simply want to have the option available to us if we believe the provisions can be improved.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: We want to ensure that what we are doing will work as intended. However, we are signalling that if a tweak or improvement is required, we will make a further amendment.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: That is correct.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes. The reason is one of tax certainty, an issue we discussed earlier.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: I am not aware of any such lobbying but that does not mean there was none.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: There have been meetings with funds.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: I was not lobbied. The information available to me was that funds did not want this change.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes, and we proceeded with it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael D'Arcy: I am not aware of that.