What might be better is if the Deputy came into the House with costed proposals. It might be better if he signalled any interest in those proposals in the Sinn Féin budget document. The word "mortgage" features once in the Sinn Féin mortgage document. Sinn Féin makes no effort to provide for private home owners of any description in its mortgage document or its housing documents but it is now interested in mortgage holders and those who own private homes. It made its budget choices and that is fine - I respect it m…

-----and I am responding on the Sinn Féin motion, which is uncosted and would increase house prices, so the Deputy should allow me to finish. The overall fiscal framework has not changed. The cost-of-living crisis remains and, as Deputy Doherty and others know, the Government is well aware of the challenges people are facing. In that context, in the coming weeks, as has been well planned and signalled, the Government is considering, in the context of measures that were introduced in the budget, how to provide the b…

How much will it cost?

I thank Senator Keogan for raising this issue. Of course, she is right. When this was introduced in 2019, it was part of the climate action plan and part of a climate focus on making a transition and bringing the benefit-in-kind, BIK, in line with the other vehicle taxes, namely, vehicle registration tax, VRT, and motor tax which, of course, are carbon-based. The Senator is also correct in identifying that there was a long lead-in time to try to allow for fleet planning. However, just because the Finance Bill said …

I thank the Senator. I recognise that when something was legislated for in the Finance Act four years ago, it can seem a bit remote. The purpose of it was to enable fleet planning by companies, not by employees. The latter would not perhaps have had the same familiarity with the provisions of the Finance Act as we might have understood their employers to have, particularly when it came to renewing leases. These are conversations that companies that are engaged in ongoing lease renewals should be having with supplie…

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. She is correct that the hospitality sector has suffered this double whammy from the impact of Covid and the energy crisis. She is also right to identify that the Government has tried to support businesses through both of these periods. As the Senator is aware, the 9% rate of VAT applies on a temporary basis to the hospitality and tourism sectors, until 20 February every 2023. This 9% rate of VAT was reintroduced, having been in place for a time in the last decad…

I thank the Senator. I know and appreciate the importance of the tourism and hospitality sectors as significant employers. Both the Senator and I come from that background. It is right across the country. I emphasise the TBESS. In the Senator's area in County Limerick, there have been 736 applications to date, with 719 approved so far and €815,000 distributed. I see Senator Dolan from County Roscommon in the Chamber; some 238 businesses there have applied, with 230 approved. I can provide data to any other Senators…

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. Something I am deeply interested in since coming into the Department is the way in which our tax structures can be of assistance to anybody who needs additional assistance, such as the disabled drivers or passengers community. I agree that the scheme needs to be reviewed, including from the perspective of accessibility to the scheme. I am not sure it is as open as it could be for the range of people with different levels of disability who need different types o…

I thank the Senator. It is important to be consistent in every respect. The Senator is completely right about the timing of the review. Having spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, last night, I know that a number of meetings were held during 2022 and a draft final report was considered on 8 December. This really is very timely. The main conclusion of that report is, as the Senator has said, that the scheme needs to be replaced with a fit-for-purpose, needs-based vehicular adaptation scheme in line with…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. He is correct that the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Deputy Madigan, who has responsibility for special needs, has met stakeholders. Last night, I spoke to her to get the most recent update for the Senator. She is in County Mayo; otherwise she would be here in person. I have a similar school in my constituency and I am well aware of the sheer positivity that a well-run school of that nature and with that level of support provides to autistic children …

As the Senator is well aware, the parents in a school community and in a school such as Ábalta Special School know best what their children need. While I cannot speak to the specific site as I am at a remove from the Department of Education, I will convey to the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, that it is the parents and members of the school community who know best what a child with additional needs requires, from the earliest intervention at Montessori level and right through the school journey. The Senator is …

I thank the Deputy for his question and good wishes. I look forward to working with him. He raises an important point in which every Deputy has an interest. Government recognises the concerns felt by individuals, businesses and community groups regarding the cost and availability of insurance, and as such, has prioritised the delivery of targeted, multifaceted reform to this key sector. The Government has consistently emphasised its clear expectation that insurers should pass on any savings arising from those refor…

I appreciate the importance of what the Deputy is saying and he is correct in his analysis of reduced awards but it takes time for that to be passed on in every respect to policyholders. There are other positive indications that the substantial reform programme is having a marked effect and the market is responding to it. It has been recently reported that new insurance firms are seeking to enter the Irish market, which would help provide more competition. That is an important market dynamic in reducing costs gener…

My attitude to all matters in this House is to sit down and discuss them constructively and I am always available to do that. As Minister of State with responsibility for insurance, I am not here to support or provide excess or extra profits to the industry but to make sure a reform programme is delivered across Government that will increase competitiveness, draw new entrants into the market, where possible, and increase the risk appetite of existing market participants in order to create a more competitive insuran…

I thank both Deputies for raising this important question. Deputy Conway-Walsh will be aware I have a strong interest in Mayo, with significant family connections and family businesses there. I have a good understanding of the pressures faced right across Mayo and other parts of rural Ireland. Indeed, her constituency colleague, Deputy Dillon, also raised this with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, on Question Time earlier. l will cut to the chase on the reasons for it because that is what the Deputies specific…

I completely appreciate the point made by both Deputies, particularly on auditing. This scheme is devised under a European framework and is also subject to state aid rules so it is not simply me, the Department or a lack of desire. It is constructed under the state aid rules as a particular intervention measure, all of which we must comply with. Therefore, please do not let me go further than I can in any of that. The Minister has said he will look at the operation of the scheme, in broad terms, to see if there are…

Yes.

I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor for her comments. I will do everything I can to address all the points she has raised. Where I do not have the information, I will get it and come back to her with more detail. The important point to set out is that Government policy has focused on strengthening the environmental rationale behind all company car taxation. In the 2021 Climate Action Plan - and I am conscious that the Dáil was debating the 2023 plan the other day - the Government committed to introducing an emission-ba…

I know the Deputy's commitment to the climate agenda, having heard her raise it on many occasions in this House. This is about a transition model. Ireland is fully committed to meeting our climate goals and a key part of that involves the decarbonisation of transport and the large-scale transition to electric vehicles. The Deputy was quite right to highlight the announcement by the Government this week relating to the electric vehicle charging infrastructure strategy and the additional work being done in that regar…

I acknowledge the work done on this to date and highlight the issues in my own constituency, as other Deputies may have already. Many people have been in touch on an ongoing basis over the past year. We have raised concerns in different ways. Since April, we have spoken with homeowners in St. Gabriel's, Granitefield Manor, Cabinteely, Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock, who are all affected. At a recent residents' association meeting, people in one area were advised that a ballpark figure for the cost of an apartment coul…