Results 301-320 of 1,047,836 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Johnny Guirke OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe)

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will, but just before I do that I want to join the Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers, in what he said about the Deputy's point about children with intellectual disabilities. We are all aware of how difficult this is for families and the challenges they have in accessing services despite our best efforts. We certainly acknowledge the importance of the point the Deputy made. On the...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: On the topic of trains, the all-island rail review and the western rail corridor, we have the opportunity to do what needs to be done there. You only have to look at the map to see the absolute lack of rail services from that area up to Sligo and Donegal, and the Minister, Deputy Chambers, will know this. There is an opportunity now and there is no excuse whatsoever not to do it. Cork...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is it much in excess of €6 billion?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: But the Minister knows what it is now.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is okay but it will be in excess of that, so obviously there is an improved revenue forecast for 2025. We will see that on budget day.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: When does the Minister expect the Apple tax to come in and how does he expect it to come in?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: We could even have another Government providing that information. Imagine that.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It will be up to the people. We had some good presentations before the Minister came in. One of them was from NERI. Its representatives said in their statement, which really struck me, that we have an economy of winners and losers. Net household wealth is at record levels on one hand while material deprivation is rising on the other. Will the Minister speak to that. Are they right?

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

Paschal Donohoe: I am not familiar with what measure of material deprivation NERI are using so I cannot comment on the point the Deputy made, but I definitely am aware of the challenges of inequality within our society. That is the main reason we have ensured each of the budgets we have done has been progressive. As we have laid out each year in the budget, if we combine the core welfare rate changes that...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: If we were to take out the one-off payments, they would not be progressive, would they? These are the measurements I have seen. It is adding in the windfall that-----

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

Paschal Donohoe: No. Deputy Conway-Walsh is correct that if the one-off payments were removed, the progressive impact would be less because a fixed payment of a large amount has a bigger impact for somebody on a low income, but they have been made available. These were happening at a point at which core welfare rate increases were below the rate of inflation. If we get to a point that core welfare rates...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is the Minister saying they would not be as necessary this year to the extent they were last year because of interest rates and inflation decreasing?

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

Paschal Donohoe: Because inflation rates have decreased, there is definitely a strong argument, which I make, that the scale of the cost-of-living measures should reflect the fact that inflation has fallen so much. Just because inflation has decreased does not mean prices have done so. Prices have increased. We are all aware in all of our budget deliberations that even though on a macro level our economy...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I will reiterate what the ESRI said regarding material deprivation and the inability of households to afford essentials increasing markedly between 2022 and 2023, especially for children. While we congratulate ourselves on budget decisions, the figures relating to child poverty and deprivation speak for themselves. Reference was made to inheritance tax. NERI has stated that inheritance...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: The Minister would favour that over addressing the worsening intergenerational inequity. While he is here, I want to ask him about an issue that came up earlier today with regard to the Central Bank. The Central Bank has renewed the agreement to facilitate the sale of Israeli sovereign bonds. ISIF said earlier this year that it would divest from six Israeli companies active in the occupied...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I know it is, but one would seem to contradict the other in terms of the Central Bank agreeing to facilitate Israeli sovereign bonds. Obviously, the money from this is used in the context of genocide. More than 40,000 people have been slaughtered in Gaza. It is of great concern for many people that this would happen. Can this be prevented from happening?

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

Paschal Donohoe: I expect it will probably happen in the second half of November.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I am conscious of my time.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: If the Minister could because it seems to be a contradiction. The Taoiseach says he tries to think every day of ways we can stop this genocide. We have to use every instrument available to us. This is why it is quite shocking when we see this. We are still waiting for the money message to come back on the divestment Bill. It is absolutely crazy for it to take this long. I know the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Sep 2024)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Government's commitment to establish a commission of investigation in the wake of the awful revelations about abuse of children in religious-run schools as illustrated in Mary O’Toole’s scoping inquiry. I also pay tribute to Mark and David Ryan. Can we have clarity from the Taoiseach on the timing of when the Government will introduce the terms of reference,...