Results 19,041-19,060 of 35,756 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: In last year's budget they spent last year's fiscal space and half of this year's fiscal space in terms of the carryover. The net fiscal space that was available for the coming budget was approximately €0.5 billion. Has the Department altered the projections on that? Will we see something significantly different? The Department surprises us quite often. It came before the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We know that it will be continually revised. The exception taken by this committee, which monitors these issues, is to the fact that it was revised within a week and jumped 20%. That was not the first time it happened. It happened in the same way the previous year. We will tease that out. Could Mr. Watt tell the committee where we found the €120 million for the pay deal, the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We have €5 million savings but we do not have the breakdown under the Garda headline. Has that €25 million-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The additional €25 million was allocated in the Revised Estimated but there was another €25 million to be identified in terms of savings in the Department. We do not have the detail of those savings in the presentation as to whether the Department is running ahead or behind profile or is on profile.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Does Mr. Watt have any idea of where we can make savings? Will the number of home help hours be cut or perhaps we will not renew some Garda cars? Will we cut social supports or community schemes? Savings have to be identified somewhere, savings which the Departments were not able to identify last year. Last week, public sector workers were notified of an increase under a pay deal which...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: As Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, does Mr. Watt believe the budget scrutiny committee should scrutinise where the money for the additional commitment is coming from or should we just accept that the Minister will find it? I agree with everything Mr. Watt has said. There needs to be flexibility and one needs to respond to things, but I am sure our role...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I will not go over the point about the role of this committee to scrutinise all of those steps again. I asked a question on the €59 million that is required to meet the cost of not collecting water charges for the rest of the year. Will that be found from the same place?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I will leave it at that. We are all puzzled.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I mentioned three areas, Garda pay, the pay deal for public servants and water charges. I raised this with the Minister on budget day because I expected this would be the outcome. These issues amount to close to a quarter of billion euro. In the next budget the net fiscal space will be half a billion euro. This is not an insignificant sum. I have no doubt that this will be accommodated...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The median income is closer to €28,500.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: After the budget.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Can the witnesses enlighten the committee any further on the correspondence between Revenue and the Department? There are approximately 20 e-mails, which have not been released under FOI, concerning the preparations being put in place to prepare for customs posts on the Border because of the potential for customs between the North and the South. The Department of Finance is not the only...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The witness is not across this-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: -----but there have been briefings and presentations provided.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We saw in the NAMA reports last year that it made a preliminary tax payment to Revenue in the region of €158 million for the profits accrued from 6 September, the kick-in date for the changes to section 110 and qualified investor funds that were introduced in budget 2017. That profit covers three months and would have been accounted for in last year's tax receipts. Do we have any...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: One of the big fears is that people and behaviours will change. The question is whether NAMA has indicated that it is going to change its behaviour? If one was to project NAMA's payment over the full year - and it did not pay over the full year because the changes only kicked in on 6 September - it would have had to pay around €600 million in tax to the State. It may have to do that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Engagement on Overall Fiscal Position: Discussion (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The commission of investigation will be established. There is an agreement in principle. The leaders of the political parties will be meeting with the Taoiseach in the next couple of days to agree a terms of reference. As the Minister said yesterday, the Department of Finance is likely to be subject to the terms of reference. The commission and the Department will each do their own work....

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) (Amendment) Bill 2017: First Stage (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Questions on Promised Legislation (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: In the section of the programme for Government on updating the planning guidelines on renewable energy, it refers to the awareness of Government of the distress and the divisions in communities where wind farms are imposed against the will of the people. It pledged to update the guidelines within three to six months but we are ten months on from its publication and wind farms are being...

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) (Amendment) Bill 2017: First Stage (5 Apr 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move:That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the protection of certain borrowers who are parties to credit agreements in respect of which the owners of the credit are unregulated through the regulation of the owners of the credit; and to provide for related matters. It is apt that Deputy Martin Kenny questioned the Taoiseach on what the IFA told us this...