I am pleased to be in the Seanad this afternoon to take Second Stage of the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Bill 2024. This debate follows an extensive engagement to date, including with the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach for prelegislative scrutiny, on Committee Stage in the Dáil and also with the budgetary oversight committee. I express my thanks to Deputies for their contributions to date. I know Senators will also want to contribute to th…

I thank the Deputy for the question. Mortgage interest tax relief, in the form of the mortgage interest tax credit, introduced in the most recent budget, is a one-year temporary relief available to homeowners with an outstanding mortgage balance on their principal private residence of between €80,000 and €500,000 on 31 December 2022. It is available at the standard rate of income tax and is based on the increase in the interest paid in 2023 over interest paid in 2022. The value of the relief is equal to the lesser …

I do not accept the Deputy's assertion in that regard. I point to the fact that almost 22,000 taxpayer units, some of whom may be couples given the way they are counted by the Revenue Commissioners, made a claim for this relief as part of their 2023 PAYE income tax return. I expect that many more will do so over the eligibility period. Although it was an estimate, the figure provided to me at the time was that approximately 208,000 eligible accounts, predominantly tracker and variable mortgages, representing approx…

I do not accept that at all. This is a non-refundable tax credit. There was engagement with the Revenue Commissioners for many months in the lead-up to the budget last October. They were very clear with me and my officials that it was not possible to put in place the necessary IT infrastructure to-----

No, not at all.

There was very early engagement with the Revenue Commissioners on that issue.

The Deputy raised the cases of specific individuals. From what he has said, I assume they do not have an income tax liability and are therefore not able to avail of a non-refundable tax credit. I am following up on that issue with Revenue and the Department of Social Protection. There is a need for information sharing between the two but a commitment was given that people who do not have a tax liability would not be denied access to the support we announced on budget day and that commitment will be honoured. Work i…

The Government is acutely aware of the difficulties in the housing market and the challenges this continues to present for many people and families as they seek a new home, often their first. With regard to vacant properties, the need to address vacancy and to ensure all viable housing stock is being used is a priority for the Government. In Housing for All, the Government has set out a suite of incentives to address vacancy and the efficient use of existing stock. A vacant homes tax was announced in budget 2023 an…

I thank the Deputy for his contribution. As he will know, I increased the vacant homes tax rate in the last budget. Just to give him the numbers, the Revenue has confirmed that as of 2 April this year, over 6,000 properties have been declared as vacant, with exemptions being declared in respect of approximately 2,500 of these properties. Approximately 3,500 properties have a liability to the vacant homes tax, amounting to approximately €2 million. Yes, there are exemptions. I am not sure which of those exemptions t…

The vacant homes tax, as the Deputy knows, is targeting habitable properties. The Deputy is raising a number of other issues which are important and relevant when it comes to properties which are vacant but which in many instances are also derelict. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, published the Vacant Homes Action Plan 2023-2026 and last month the progress report from April 2024. To be fair, it sets out the progress which is being made in achieving the objectives. If one takes the vacant property refurb…

I thank Deputy Doherty for his question. The Government is conscious of the implications of fuel costs for all sectors of society. This is reflected in the fact that in 2022, in light of the acute impact rising prices were having on households and businesses, the Government provided for temporary cuts in excise rates which, inclusive of VAT, amounted to 21 cents, 16 cents and 5.4 cents per litre on petrol, auto-diesel and marked gas oil, MGO, respectively. These temporary cuts to excise rates were initially due to …

As I said earlier, and I am happy to repeat it, I will keep the situation under review in advance of the final restoration, which is due on 1 August. There is considerable volatility when it comes to fuel prices, not least because of the movement in the cost of a barrel of oil, which is only one input cost. It increased in recent weeks. It fell back again but it is moving in both directions. I keep a close eye on that and on future markets as well. As the Deputy will be aware, foreign exchange rates also have an im…

The Deputy will be aware that we are having this debate because the Government cut excise duty back in 2022. That was the right decision at the time. The restoration that has taken place since has been on a phased basis and one final phase of that restoration was due. I have given a commitment to the House on a number of occasions that this will be kept under review. Luckily I did not take the Deputy's advice in the budget last year, which would have involved putting up petrol prices by 8 cent per litre last month,…

As I said, it is just as well I did not take the Deputy's advice-----

-----or we would have seen an 8 cent per litre increase last month.

It is just as well I did not take the advice or we would have seen an 8 cent per litre increase last month----------

Sinn Féin advocated for an 8 cent increase in petrol last month. It is just as well I did not take the Deputy's advice.

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which is a business unit of the NTMA, is statutorily independent and is subject to oversight by its investment committee and the NTMA's board. My officials are in contact with the NTMA on an ongoing basis across a range of issues, including those arising from the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023. On 20 March this year the director of the ISIF attended the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, …

Perhaps I could write to the Deputy with detail of the investments that have been divested. The majority of what was announced has been completed at this stage. She will acknowledge that difficult and harrowing as the issue is with the occupied West Bank and the conflict and the terrible events happening in Gaza because of the excessive use of force by the Israel Defense Forces, it is not the only environmental, social or governance issue that will need to be addressed by the NTMA in the context of the management o…

The factual position is that ISIF is statutorily independent and subject to oversight by its investment committee and the NTMA's board. Under statute, I, as Minister for Finance, do not have a role in ISIF's implementation of its investment strategy. The investment strategy does operate within an ESG framework, which the Deputy has correctly highlighted. This is not the only ESG issue it has to consider. It is important that I continue to respect ISIF's independence and commercial mandate. The Deputy mentioned the …