I thank the Deputy for his question on this very important topic. At least he has a recognition of the value of organisations like the OECD. As to where we are, as the Deputy outlined Ireland signed up to a global tax deal. We did so in October 2021, as he is aware. That was part of an overall inclusive framework on base erosion and profit shifting as part of the G20 and OECD agreement. Ireland signed up to this as a pragmatic and sensible approach to address global uncertainty and provide the positive conditions a…

Our intent very much is to engage with the United States with a view to making the case to it for continued participation in the OECD framework. That is the outcome we will seek to achieve. I fully acknowledge the difficulties that will be there with regard to that given what President Trump and the Department of the Treasury have already indicated. Are we looking at what the consequences of other outcomes could be? We are considering that, but I must be frank with the Deputy that it is very early days in terms of …

Any engagement with the new US Administration has been constrained by the fact that it is only making appointments at the moment. That has been the key issue. The new Secretary of the Treasury had his appointment ratified a number of weeks ago. Many of the other officeholders within the US Treasury, however, with whom both we and Europe will deal, are in the very early days of coming into office. I expect there will be engagement between ourselves and the US in the weeks and months ahead. There will of course be en…

I am going to have to disappoint the Deputy as I have the information for Kildare but not Cork available this morning. Of course, I can get that information for him and will share it with him quickly. The rent tax credit, as he outlined, has been brought in. In budget 2025, it was increased to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple. This increase applies for 2025 and also retrospectively for 2024 in recognition of the cost-of-living pressures facing many renters. The statistics relating…

The commitment in the programme for Government is very clear. We recognise the value and support this credit has provided. Over time, in the different budgets the Government will bring forward, we will seek to improve it, as will be the case with other important credits and tax reliefs. It has played a role in helping with the affordability of rents for many tenants. I agree with all the Deputy said in this regard. I am confident, as we bring budgets forward, that we will be able to make progress on the relief and …

We have not yet had discussions in that regard, to be frank with the Deputy, because of how early we are in the lifetime of this Government and in preparing for the next budget. Of course, we have schemes in place such as the first home scheme, which is a shared equity scheme, and the help to buy scheme. They are designed to help everybody looking to buy their first home, particularly new builds in the context of the help to buy scheme, and make a contribution to the deposit for that. That applies to everyone. It i…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 12 together. To facilitate a back-and-forth discussion on the issue, I will quickly emphasise what I said in reply to Deputy Connolly earlier. Of course, due to Ireland being an open trading economy, we can be strongly affected by changes that happen in global trade. We are currently considering these potential scenarios and they will be outlined in the stability programme update in April.

Of course we need to do that. We have made efforts to do that in recent years and need to continue to do so. That is why changes with regard to carbon taxation continue to be essential. It is why changes that we will make in the time ahead to our PRSI system to ensure that our Social Insurance Fund is sustainably funded in the years ahead are really vital. As regards other things we need to do, that is why I have made the case over many years for running budget surpluses. Imagine where we would be today if we were …

There is an obvious contradiction in what the Deputy is saying.

Of course there is.

It is great to hear the Deputy make the case for the resilience of foreign direct investment, which is a new departure for him that I welcome but, on the one hand, what he is saying-----

-----is this employment has a value, and there are lots of these employers in Ireland, and then he is making the case that we should tax them even more and apply wealth taxes to them.

How is that going to help with the challenges we have regarding the safety of our public finances and keeping jobs in Ireland if we are going to tax them more and more? Of course we need to diversify our economy. Of course we need to ensure we have more sources of growth in our jobs market but it should be noted that we have never had more people at work in Ireland and the public finances are in surplus, which is due to the fact that we have a variety of different employers in our country, all of whom are contribut…

I agree with Deputy Nash that we need to continue our efforts to diversify our economy and to support employers of all different shapes and sizes. I thank him for recognising the work of Enterprise Ireland in this regard. It does exceptional work. I believe the strength of our food sector and the growing strength of our energy sector within our economy are examples of how we can strengthen the diversity of employment and the diversity of where we can generate economic growth in the future. That remains the key miss…

For the Deputy to suggest, given the difficulties we clearly face, on which I answered questions earlier regarding the implementation of a current global tax deal, that jobs and our competitiveness could be secured by going beyond that and taxing more by bringing in new forms of tax, shows no understanding of what it takes to create a job and keep it in Ireland. The path the Deputy is advocating for is one that would lead to a weaker and more vulnerable economy. It is a course of action that I am certainly not goin…

I congratulate Deputy O'Sullivan on his election to Dáil Éireann and I thank him for his first question to me on what I know is a very important matter. My Department and I share concerns that the scheme is no longer fit for purpose and believe it should be replaced with a needs-based, grant-led approach for necessary vehicle adaptations that could serve to improve the functional mobility of the individual. Under the previous Government, the national disability and inclusion strategy, NDIS, transport working group …

I do not have a timeline regarding the publication of that report - if indeed it will be published. Of course, any changes we would make would be subject to debate in the Chamber and because they may require legislative change, they will be discussed by the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. There will, therefore, be ample opportunity for the Deputy to put questions to me on the matter and for me to hear his views on it.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 14 together. As Deputies are aware, the UN maintains a database of businesses involved in certain specified activities relating to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, OPT. At the end of 2023, direct investments by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, in companies on the UN database was approximately €4.2 million in 11 companies. ISIF’s indirect investments included eight companies, totalling approximately €9.4 million. ISIF divested from six of these c…

I disagree strongly with the Deputy's overall analysis regarding the Government's stance on the people of Palestine. From the decision we made regarding the recognition of the Palestinian state, one supported by the entire Dáil, to the ongoing funding we have provided through multilateral and international organisations to support those people, who have seen such harm and loss of life in recent months, our stance is very clear and is understood and valued by those who represent the people of Palestine at a politica…

It is important to acknowledge that the overall size of the Israeli economy is €500 billion. That is how big that economy is. ISIF is enormous, and many different investments are taking place across the world. We have already seen ISIF divest from companies within Israel. As I said in response to the House earlier, it is not clear to me, given the scale of the investment that ISIF has, both directly and indirectly, that it is in any way playing a role-----