Results 761-780 of 1,194,568 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Simon Harris OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Charlie McConalogue OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Brendan Smith OR speaker:Brendan Howlin OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Joan Collins OR speaker:Michael Ring OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Willie O'Dea OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Marc MacSharry OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl9 OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon)

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Apologies for the vote. My first question refers to an endorsement IFAC provided for the economic projections which were released alongside budget 2025. In the letter of endorsement on the macroeconomic projections, IFAC stated that one of the three elements of the basis for its approach is a review of the Department's past forecasts to look for errors and systematic bias. Is it fair to...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Maybe IFAC could let us have that. How many times has it overestimated? It should be fairly easy to see in GNI*. It is important for us to see the patterns that are there. IFAC endorsed the macroeconomic projection we received on budget day. Apart from the element I outlined, it also looked at the comparisons on the benchmark projections and forecasts from other bodies. IFAC said that...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Okay. Do the witnesses think the inclusion of BEPS pillar 1 kicking in in 2026 is a credible expectation?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Why?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Does IFAC have any oversight of the multiplier that is used by the Department for current and capital expenditure?

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I refer to the multiplier that is used which means that if we put X in, we get Y out.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Does IFAC have any impact on the multiplier that is used by the Department? It is difficult to tell. There are lots of moving parts.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It might be something worth looking into in terms of the transparency of future estimates. Does IFAC assess the level of public expenditure based on the share of the real economy, which is obviously GNI*? From my own estimates, when I compare either net expenditure or general Government expenditure, it shows we are spending less today than we were in 2019, the year before the current...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is also necessary, though, to look at inflation. We never signed up to the restrictive Fine Gael 5% spending rule. I believe we have been proven right in relation to inflation. Of the three examples that IFAC gave us in its submission, namely, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, the first two specifically take inflation into account and look at the increases in spending in real terms....

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is less today than it was in 2019 in terms of spending. It is a kind of contradiction in one sense. The concern is that all this highlights some of the risks associated with legislating for the spending rules.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: No, exactly. What we are trying to get at here, however, is to be fiscally responsible but still have enough flexibility to be able to adapt to and respond to external changes that occur. It is about the balance rather than about tying ourselves into something if we were to legislate for the rule.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank Dr. Casey for that. The EU fiscal rules state that the medium-term fiscal plans will commit member states to an agreed net expenditure path for a five-year period. The plan will subsequently be endorsed by the Council of the European Union. It is stated that once endorsed by the European Council, it is generally not possible to deviate from the agreed net expenditure path unless...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is trying to stop it.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Yes. I think this is crucially important because we are adding an additional national restriction to an economic decision of a democratically-elected government. I think this is extremely serious. IFAC's submission refers to it having an enforcement role in regard to the EU fiscal rules. Will the witnesses expand on this statement? I refer to what IFAC having an additional enforcement...

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: What about the decision of the democratically elected Government? I really have concerns about this.

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

Rose Conway-Walsh: Five years is a long time in politics.

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?