To be straight with the Deputy, I have no problem whatsoever in meeting the group and I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, will do the same on the insurance issues. Perhaps we can meet them together. These are genuine issues. These homeowners should not be in this situation and the banks need to adopt a supportive role when it comes to helping them because there will be issues. As the Deputy rightly said, the asset values are greatly reduced. They will need help in the journey to reconstructing…

I assure the Deputy there is no lack of will on my part to support these homeowners on these issues. The scheme has been established by the Minister. The legislation has been put in place and this has to be worked through. The Deputy has raised specific issues around the treatment of people in the context of their mortgages, the difficulties that are already there, and the difficulties that can be anticipated as they remediate or completely reconstruct their homes. I acknowledge that practical issues will arise and…

SMEs are the foundation of the economy, accounting for the majority of employment in the State. Their vital importance to our economy is reflected in our programme for Government commitments. On tax measures, my Department has been proactive in supporting SMEs by introducing and expanding a number of taxation measures, which help small businesses access investment, scale up and expand. Measures include: the section 486C relief for certain start-up companies; the employment investment incentive, EII, the key employe…

I will start on the Deputy's final point first with regard to insurance. He will be aware that the Minister of State, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, is leading the Government's insurance reform programme. Significant progress has been made on the new personal injury guidelines and the office to promote competition in the insurance sector. The work to reform the duty of care legislation is at an advanced stage. We expect it will complete its passage through both Houses before the summer recess. It will then be en…

In the minute it will not be possible to respond to all those issues but I will touch on tax warehousing because I am aware it is a very important issue for a lot of businesses. At the end of March the value of debt warehoused was more than €2.2 billion across 63,600 businesses. Last October, Revenue announced an extension to the period during which debts can remain parked in the warehouse. This means that businesses no longer have the challenge of making arrangements to repay their warehoused debt until 1 May 2024…

The help-to-buy scheme was introduced in 2017 with the purpose of assisting first-time buyers with the deposit required to purchase or self-build a new house or apartment to live in as their home. The Deputy will be aware that the Finance Act 2022 extended the help-to-buy scheme for a further two years to the end of 2024. To date, the scheme has been a significant support for first-time buyers of new homes. Since its inception and until April 2023, some 38,557 first-time buyers either singly or as part of a couple,…

When we talk about statistics and 38,500 people benefiting from the scheme, I know many of them personally, as I am sure the Deputy does. Without the help-to-buy scheme, the truth is many of those people would not have been able to buy a home. That is the reality. I support the decision made by my predecessor that the extension of the scheme to 2024 provides certainty. We need as much certainty as possible in the housing market, first, for developers so they are aware of what the environment in which they are devel…

Our policy is to support homebuyers because we support home ownership. The truth is this is a key affordability intervention. Many people will sleep in homes tonight, in every county throughout the country, who would not have those homes if this scheme did not exist. That is my view and it is why the Government has supported this scheme. The Deputy talked about targeting and the scheme being regressive. She asked about plans for the phasing out of the help-to-buy scheme. I take it she is against the scheme and beli…

I take the Deputy's point that she is drawing that wording from the reports.

I take that to be the Deputy's position on it. As Minister, I do not agree with her. The scheme has an important role to play. It is in place until at least 2024. We will keep it under review and will make clear in future budgets what the position is beyond that date.

As a small open economy connected to Europe, the US and the wider world, Ireland is committed to a competitive, transparent and stable corporation tax system. As the Deputy will be aware, the trading profits of companies in Ireland are generally taxed at the standard corporation tax rate of 12.5%. We are committed, under the pillar 2 agreement, to increasing to an effective rate of 15% for in-scope companies. Some of the main features of the current regime are its simplicity and that it applies to a broad base. Imp…

I am not pandering to anyone, but in the position I am in, I have the advantage of engaging directly with some of the world's largest companies that have invested in Ireland and continue to do so. One of the issues that is repeatedly raised is the importance of predictability, certainty and stability when it comes to corporation tax policy. That has served Ireland well. The Government has made the decision to be part of the OECD base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, agreement. We will faithfully implement pillar …

When it comes to banks, because the existing levy comes to an end in law this year, we are carrying out a review. I will make the decision about the future of that levy known when the budget is announced. As the Deputy will be aware, I published a terms of reference for a review of the investment fund sector on 6 April. Specifically with regard to the taxation of funds, the review will examine the role of real estate investment trusts and Irish real estate funds in the property sector, including how they support ho…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 59, 63 and 67 together. The help-to-buy initiative announced in budget 2017 is an income tax incentive measure designed to assist first-time buyers with the deposit required to purchase or self-build a new house or apartment to live in as their home. With a view to increasing the supply of new housing and stimulating demand, the relief is only available in respect of new builds. In the July 2020 stimulus plan, the scheme was amended so that the level of support available to first-ti…

I had an exchange with Deputy Connolly earlier about the future of the scheme. It is a scheme that the Government and I strongly support, given the fact that almost 40,000 people have benefited from it over the past number of years, many of whom would not have been in a position to buy a home without it. In the Budget Statement last year, it was announced that the scheme would be extended to the end of 2024. We will keep it under review in the interim period, with a view to setting out what the position will be bey…

I would be grateful if the Deputy would share some of the details of the cases he is referring to with my office so that we can examine them and make sure that the legislation is being fully applied in all cases. He has correctly highlighted the value of the scheme in his county. A number of other colleagues tabled questions relating to Carlow, Clare, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath. In most counties, hundreds of claims have been successful in recent years. That underlines the value of the scheme. W…

The debt warehousing scheme allows for the deferral of the payment of VAT, PAYE and certain self-assessed income tax liabilities, including the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, overpayments. It provided a vital liquidity support to businesses during the Covid pandemic and continues to support businesses as they recover from the impacts of the pandemic and the energy crisis. As of the end of March 2023, the value of debt warehoused was €2.216 billion for 63,600 businesse…

It is worth reflecting on the numbers I put on the record and the fact that two thirds of the businesses that have tax debts warehoused owe less than €5,000. I recognise that this is a significant amount of money for a lot of businesses but in the great majority of cases, with goodwill and co-operation between the business and the Revenue Commissioners, it should be possible to put in place repayment arrangements over a period of time. The Revenue Commissioners have assured me that they will be as flexible and supp…

It is worth underlining the point that the requirement is to have entered into an arrangement with Revenue by 1 May 2024. It is not that the business has to have repaid the warehoused tax by that date; it just has to have entered an arrangement. Over the next ten to 11 months, I urge businesses to engage with the Revenue Commissioners and put in place that arrangement. I also want to make the point that the arrangements can be over a number of years. Despite the fact that in many cases the amount of money involved …

Section 100 of the Finance Act 2022 requires that an assessment of the TBESS be carried out at intervals of not less than every three months, beginning on 20 October 2022. On 27 April 2023 I published the second three-month assessment of the scheme. The first assessment was published on 28 January. The assessment was undertaken by the Department of Finance with the assistance of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Revenue Commissioners. It contains up-to-date data on the trajectory…