This is an area where I have been very active. I have met the banks and the non-banks and also MABS, the Insolvency Service of Ireland and the Central Bank at a round-table meeting at the end of August. One of the outcomes of that was that for the first time we now have an agreed set of eligibility criteria for people whose mortgage is in the non-bank sector to enable them to switch their mortgage to a bank. All of the banks have signed up to that and have committed to implementing those criteria. The Central Bank'…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 88, 92, 125, 126 and 134 together. The Exchequer returns to the end of September this year showed an overall surplus of €1.1 billion. This compares with a surplus of €7.9 billion at end of September 2022. The bulk of the deterioration was driven by the transfer of €4 billion to the National Reserve Fund earlier this year. Overall, tax revenues to the end of September stood at €61.4 billion, €3.5 billion or over 6% ahead of the same period last year. This has been driven by income ta…

The year-to-date receipts of income tax are at €23.1 billion compared with a performance last year of €21.4 billion, meaning it is up by over 8% year on year. However, when compared with the profile or the estimate of what we thought we would collect to the end of quarter 3, it is only ahead of it by about €145 million, or 0.6%. As the Deputy said, VAT receipts are up by almost 10% year on year. However, again it is actually below profile by just over €100 million, or 0.6%. The Deputy is precisely right on what is …

The Deputy is very quick to advise us how to spend the surpluses, but he pays very little heed to why we have surpluses. It is due to the enterprise model that Ireland has successfully developed over many decades, our commitment to European Union membership and the euro, political stability, and successive governments running pro-enterprise business policies and implementing such policies. The debate does not start with "What do we do with the surpluses?" It is "Why are we in the position that we are in today?" as …

I thank the Deputy. We will lay out next Tuesday what our forecasts are for corporation tax receipts and indeed receipts under every other tax head for the next number of years. That will be the considered view of my Department as to what we expect to receive over the coming years. Deputy Burke is right that these companies that contribute the vast bulk of our corporation tax receipts have substantial operations in Ireland. Industrial Development Authority, IDA, clients now directly employ in excess of 300,000 peop…

I thank Deputy Lawless for raising this issue. On 6 April this year I published the terms of reference for a review of Ireland’s funds sector. The objective of the review is to ensure that Ireland’s funds sector framework is up to date and fit for purpose in the years ahead, that we can maintain our globally competitive position by supporting long-term growth and a sustainable and resilient market and that the sector continues to support national and regional economic growth, as well as job creation. In addition to…

I thank the Deputy. As I have indicated, the review is now well under way. The consultation period has closed. Submissions were received and are being examined. I have no doubt that the question of digitalisation and questions around crypto feature as part of those submissions. Once the budget is over I intend to sit down at an early date with the review team to engage to get a sense of the direction of travel and an early assessment from the team on the range of issues that have been raised in the consultation per…

I thank Deputy Doherty and his colleagues for putting down this motion and for affording me an opportunity to further respond on behalf of the Government. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, spoke earlier. I will set out our position on this issue. I believe that budget day is the appropriate time for the Government to set out its overall response to the cost-of-living pressures we know are very real for many households all over the country. The reason we are debating the issue is that the Government red…

That is not the position which others in opposition take. They say they support it in principle but they are always against the next increase. This means, when you add it all up, that in effect those persons are against the carbon tax. Much lip service is being paid on that issue. The Government has to respond to the total picture and that is what we will do on budget day. We are engaged in very detailed analysis at this time to come up with an appropriate set of measures which help people, especially those who nee…

Sinn Féin supported it.

I move amendment No. 2: To delete all the words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: - the European Central Bank (ECB) is independent in the formulation of monetary policy for the Eurozone area; - the ECB's objective is to maintain price stability and wishes to ensure a timely return of inflation to its two per cent medium-term target; and - since the middle of 2022, the ECB has increased official interest rates on ten occasions by a total of 4.5 percentage points; recognises that: - the …

I thank the Deputy for his question. The formulation and implementation of monetary policy is an independent matter for the ECB. As the Deputy will be aware, the ECB has increased official interest rates over recent months as it attempts to combat inflation. The latest increase, which was announced last week, brings the main ECB lending rate to 4%. Any decision to change official interest rates, and the timing of any such decision, is solely a matter for the ECB. Following last week's monetary policy meeting, the E…

I welcome the work of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach on this issue. I have been very clear as to my expectations and what I want to see from the financial sector, and that is that customers who are making genuine efforts to repay their mortgages should not be allowed to fall into arrears by virtue of changes in interest rates brought about by monetary policy tightening by the ECB. We need to see the statutory protections and the code of conduct that is there being fully…

The commitment I can give as Minister is that we will help households in the budget, but those decisions fall to be made as part of the budgetary process. The Deputy gives stark examples, which are real examples, of people whose mortgage payments might have increased by €400, €600 or maybe €800 a month. His proposal is to give them €4 a day, maximum, to help them with their mortgages. We need to look at all of this. We need to look at the role of the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, the role of the insolvenc…

USC was designed and incorporated into the Irish taxation system in 2011 to replace the health and income levies. Its primary purpose was to widen the tax base and provide a steady income to the Exchequer to provide funding for public services. USC is an individualised tax, meaning that a person's liability to it is determined on the basis of his or her own individual income and personal circumstances. It is a more sustainable charge than those it replaced and is applied at a low rate on a wide base, which ensures …

I am glad to hear that the Deputy supports reducing the burden of income tax on ordinary workers.

When we proposed such reductions in recent budgets, he opposed them. That is a fact.

Did the Deputy ever vote for a finance Bill?

The Deputy never voted for a finance Bill.

Finance Bills are the way in which we bring about reductions in the burden of income tax.