Results 621-640 of 1,174,339 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Paul Gavan OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Seán Canney OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Richard Bruton6 OR speaker:Leo Varadkar OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív88 OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Colm Brophy OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív57 OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív14 OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Noel Grealish OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív46 OR speaker:Paul McAuliffe OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke) in 'Committee meetings'

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Welfare, Treatment and Traceability of Horses: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Oct 2024)

Johnny Mythen: That is fine. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: We have received apologies from Deputies Steven Matthews and Ged Nash. I propose that the committee go into private session to deal with some housekeeping matters. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: This evening's engagement is with representatives of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. On behalf of the committee, I welcome Mr. Seamus Coffey, chairman of the council, and Dr. Eddie Casey, chief economist. It is always great to have them here. We are looking forward to a discussion on the EU's fiscal rules and the State's medium-term fiscal and structural plan, which was published last...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: As a vote has been called in the Dáil, I propose that we suspend until it has concluded.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: 2 o’clock I thank Mr. Coffey for his opening statement. I open the floor, following the normal rota, and call Deputy Conway-Walsh.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: We will move on. I will give Deputies a chance to come back in again later.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: I thank our guests for coming in today. From a lay person's point of view, we are talking about economies, budgets and five-year plans but a five-year plan is not worth the paper it is written on in the context of what happened in Ukraine or of Covid, for example. Basically, such plans are for an ideal world, if everything was right. When we have a spike in inflation, all kinds of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: If one considers the surplus taxes that we have coming in now and the fact that some of that is being stored away in the so-called rainy day fund, is that the type of action that a good government should be taking so that we have reserves when we need them? An example of an area about which people are very frustrated is that of house building. Private housing is not being built. That...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: What is Mr. Coffey's take on people promising that we are going to build 60,000 houses? How does he see that being done when we cannot even build 30,000 at the moment? That is not a political question. I am asking how the council sees this being done. Will something else have to be sacrificed, for example, retrofitting or something like that? Does Mr. Coffey have any comments on that?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: The way Mr. Coffey describes some of the difficulties in getting foreign workers or getting our own people who have gone abroad to come back is like a chicken-and-egg situation. We have to provide the houses for them to live in to give them the permanency they need. They would want a guarantee that they would get a house here if they came back.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: This is not a loaded question but it relates to the role of IFAC. Do the witnesses find that nobody listens to what they say when they have concerns about fiscal rules or projections and forecasts that are being made? Are they being listened to by governments? Do they feel that their role is effective? People say the Government is composed of the elected representatives of the people and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: I have one last question. I did my leaving certificate in the mid-1970s and for whatever reason, there were no jobs at the time. When I was in the construction industry there was very little work in the early 1980s, then we had the boom and it was followed by the situation in 2008. Should we be doing specific analysis to generate lessons for the future? I include how we performed during...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: I thank the guests.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: I thank our guests. I apologise about the voting; it just makes everything very awkward. Anyway, we will move on swiftly. Would our guests recommend that the Government disregard or disapply the net spending rule when allocating funding for the likes of State old age pensions, especially considering that the recent increase of €12 granted in budget 2025 has caused a real decrease...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: What are Mr. Coffey's thoughts on benchmarking?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: That is fine. I asked Mr. Coffey for that reason. I thank him. To minimise the risk caused by the current overreliance on the tax take from just three corporations, would the council recommend the Government remove vulture funds’ charity status, making their rental and other income subject to tax? The funds have a considerable presence in the housing, rental and mortgage markets....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: Is there anything extra we could be doing to alleviate some of the problems caused for people by vulture funds?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: That is fair enough. That is all I wanted to ask. I thank all the guests very much. I appreciate the chance I have been given.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: I have one or two questions myself. I understand the kind of enforcement or pushback that would be put into execution by the European Commission in the event of rules being broken is unclear. Is that unique to Ireland, or is it across all EU countries?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Aindrias Moynihan: What kind of enforcement does Mr. Coffey envisage?