Results 281-300 of 1,046,115 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Michael Moynihan OR speaker:Simon Coveney OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman) in 'Committee meetings'

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I nominate Deputy Aindrias Moynihan.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the witnesses for their contributions. They are very interesting and timely. There are a lot of commonalities in what they have said. IFAC's submission makes for stark reading. We would be in a deficit of more than €5 billion if it was not for the windfall tax. This is difficult for people to understand. It would suggest there has not been good management of the economy...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Obviously projects such as the western rail corridor, which is shovel ready and not greatly labour intensive, and the rebalancing of the regions are very important. I hate to think what would happen if we did head into recession again with such a deficit of infrastructure in regions. We would tip over completely.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: We obviously have to invest in infrastructure, including the infrastructure Dr. McDonnell has talked about. Putting funds away until 2040 is all well and good and it is laudable, but we need to fix the infrastructure to maintain our competitiveness and expand foreign direct investment in order to ensure we are not reliant on three multinational companies. That is hugely important. Dr....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Basically, we are spending a lot of money but we are not spending it in the right places. If we were to go into a budget and again give tax reliefs, such as on inheritance tax, rather than targeting, that would be the wrong thing to do.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I have a question for the Central Bank that I need to ask. I apologise, I may get back in again, but I have to speak in the Dáil. I need to ask the Central Bank about its decision to renew the agreement to facilitate the sale of Israeli sovereign bonds, and how that reconciles with ISIF, which said it would divest from six Israeli companies active in the occupied territories. It is a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is that a legal requirement in domestic law or in European law?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I appreciate that, but I am sure that Dr. Kelly understands that people are absolutely horrified that our own Central Bank would facilitate the sale of war bonds when there is a genocide and more than 40,000 people have been slaughtered in the past months. It is appalling, but it is something we will take up with the Governor of the Central Bank when he comes in to the finance committee. I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I think my time is up now.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: I thank the members for the invitation to appear before the committee to discuss budget 2025, which both I and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will present to the Oireachtas in a little under two weeks’ time. To begin, I will briefly set out the economic and fiscal background for this year’s budget. At an aggregate level, the Irish economy is in reasonably good shape. With...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: We will set out the mechanics of how we propose to spend or utilise the €3 billion which we have on account now from the AIB share sales. We will set out the mechanics of that on budget day. We have discussed this in the context of infrastructure in the economy and I have set out the three priority areas which are housing, energy-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: It is in there already. The money from the share sales is in ISIF. In terms of the additional future shares, that is a matter for future decisions in the context of the share position of the Irish State in AIB. That is a matter for future sales that may or may not occur. We have set out previously that we have had an ongoing sale of shares from AIB and at the appropriate time in the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: Yes, correct.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: We will set out the mechanics of that on budget day and how we propose to use it to address those three key priority areas.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: I will set that out on budget day.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: This is proceeds that we have received from share sales and we feel it is important to utilise that to address a pressing issue in our country, which is obviously the delivery of more homes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: We will set out our tax package on budget day. We have been clear that reducing the income tax burden is a priority for the Government. All of the budgetary decisions we have taken have been highly progressive to date. Many people in our economy have been taken out of the income tax net, as the Deputy knows. We want to make sure that the effect of our decisions is progressive in the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: I will be able to set out on budget day the tax decisions that we take, the impact of those on workers in our economy and the cost-of-living-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: If one takes the combined income tax and cost-of-living package that we introduced last year and what I intend to progress this year, it will be highly progressive. We want to make sure average workers benefit-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (18 Sep 2024)

Jack Chambers: We brought in a highly progressive tax package last year which benefitted workers, particularly when one combines the income tax changes with the cost-of-living payments.