Sinn Féin makes the same case for every difficulty that is raised with it and every problem to which it seeks to make a difference. Change is not promising everything to everybody. That is not positive change; it is cynicism. It is not change; it is populism. It is not policies; it is vitriol. What we need is a vision that can make a difference.

What I see in the work of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, a colleague with whom I am privileged to serve, is-----

-----a plan we know needs to do better and a plan we know needs to deliver more, and it will due to the Minister, and the commitment and work of this Government. In contrast, we have an Opposition, especially a Sinn Féin Opposition, which says it wants to build more homes and to deliver more rental accommodation when it has turned landlords, developers and banks into terms of abuse. That is what they are in the Opposition's lexicon.

That is what they are in the Opposition's world. The people we need to build more homes, the people to whom we need to lend more to get those homes built, those we need to come back in to provide rental accommodation, in the Opposition's world, are terms of abuse and have been throughout this Dáil and before. When the Opposition then says it will spend more and build more, with what money will it do so, and from where? Is it the corporate tax revenues that everybody is warning us we should not spend? Is it the corp…

I thank Senators for their contributions. As part of the plans of 2020, the help-to-buy scheme was amended so that the level of support available to first-time buyers was enhanced to the lesser of €30,000, 10% of the purchase price of a new home or the amount of income tax and DIRT paid in the four years before the application date. The duration of the scheme in this enhanced form was extended for a further year each in the Finance Acts of 2020 and 2021, with the latter providing for a revised sunset date of 31 Dec…

I, of course, accept the point that Senator Warfield has made that over a number of years, the scheme has been of the cost he indicated. However, even with the changes that were made in 2020, the cost of the scheme is approximately €110 million per year. The capital programme for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage alone is approximately €4 billion. It is important to put that figure into context with all of the other things that the State does. Some people who avail of the scheme are in the po…

We make all the information available every month and it is all available on the website of the Revenue Commissioners. That is how we are in a position to track the use of the scheme so closely. The only reason I do not propose a further report relates to the fact that I just published the most recent report on the scheme on budget day a couple of months ago. If the scheme had not been examined for some time, I would take the Senator’s point and that of his fellow Senators and go ahead with a report, but given we h…

The Department will look at the implementation of the changes we have made over the coming period, although I do not have further plans to broaden the scheme. In the engagement we have had on this with representative bodies, the main ask of us was to increase the allowable frequency and value of the payment rather than the breadth of it, and that is what we have done. In the context of challenges employers were facing as the pandemic began to ease and of choices they may now make when confronted with the cost-of-li…

The short answer is "No". To qualify, the frame has to be a permanent part of the bike.. That will apply to bikes used by An Post that the Senator mentioned because the set-up is part of the bicycle. Where a bicycle has a trailer attached to it that is capable of being separated from it , that will not qualify for this enhanced relief.

I appreciate that. It is my hope that, over time, the change in pay and conditions will be such that a credit such as this one will be no longer needed, but it is of relatively low cost to the Exchequer overall and is of some help to those who perform this very valuable work on behalf of our State. That is why it is being extended in this form in the Bill. I thank the Senator for his comments.

I thank the Senators for tabling the recommendations on this very important topic. I sometimes think the best argument for making the case for what we have done is looking at what would have happened if we had not taken these measures. If we had not put in place these measures what would have happened is that as workers on average incomes within our country had received wage increases from their employers to help them cope with the rise in the cost of living, they would have seen more of those wages go on higher ta…

With the permission of the Acting Chairperson, I want to draw the House's attention to an issue that came to light too late for a response to be made to it in the context of the Finance Bill 2022. It concerns the operation of the proposed rent tax credit, which is provided for in section 13 of the Bill, and the interaction of the credit with the existing statutory provisions relating to allowances for Members of the Oireachtas, Ministers of State and the Attorney General in respect of travel and accommodation expen…

I appreciate the issues of equity that exists in the operation of the special assignee relief programme, SARP, because it is understandable in the Oireachtas that taxpayers should question why somebody, who is on a very high level of income within our State, should receive additional tax support which, in effect, means they pay less tax. There are two reasons for this. The first is that if one looks across the world and Europe, we are competing against many other countries which have exactly the same programme avai…

This recommendation seeks a report on the introduction of a so-called wealth tax, to be provided within six months of the passing of this Bill into law. As the Senator should be and is well aware, wealth can be taxed in many ways, and some of these taxes are already levied here in Ireland. These include capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax, which are in effect taxes on wealth in that they are paid by an individual or company on the disposal of an asset or the acquisition of an asset through gift or inheri…

I thank the Senator for making those important points to which I have a number of responses. First, the system we have in place at the moment supports workers to make a private pension contribution. The tax relief that is available for them to do that offers support to 775,000 people in our State, which is 30% of those at work. Any changes to the marginal rate of tax support that is available to them has to take account of the fact that this is something that is helping workers to build up pension savings for later…

Yes, in cash terms they do but the reality is that the majority of the 775,000 people to whom we are referring are low to middle-income workers. What we need to do is encourage greater pension coverage, not less, which is why the auto-enrolment scheme is so important. In terms of the support that is being made available for those who are on higher incomes, the average share of income set aside for a pension contribution is in the range of 3% to 6%. That range is in line with the pension contributions that those who…

The FED provides relief from income tax on up to €35,000 for employees who are tax resident in Ireland but travel out of the State temporarily to carry out duties of their office or employment in certain qualifying countries. In this way, FED acts as an incentive to Irish businesses seeking to develop and expand into emerging markets in any of the 30 qualifying countries. To qualify for FED, an employee must spend a minimum of 30 days abroad in a continuous 12-month period, and each trip must consist of at least th…

I strongly believe that, given the rising rents many are facing, further support from the State in a rental tax credit is merited and needed. The scheme we are bringing in will make a difference of €500 per taxpayer and there is an overall cost to the scheme of €200 million, which is a very significant new scheme to be brought in. It is being brought in because I accept it is needed. I accept that those who are in the rental sector, particularly those who do not have support from being in a rent pressure zone, need…

As the Senators will be aware, mortgage interest relief, MIR, for principal private residences was phased out on a gradual basis over the period from 2009 to 2020. The decision to abolish it was taken in the wake of the financial crisis with the cost of the relief being one of the influencing factors. For example, at its peak, in 2008, the scheme costed in excess of €700 million per annum. The reintroduction of such a relief is also likely to be very costly. The latest Central Bank data indicate there were around 7…

I broadly agree with the points many Senators made. This is a well designed and targeted scheme. It is focused on a particular form of property and a particular form of investment in that property in very targeted parts of our cities. While I welcome the fact that many Senators said they feel it is working well, I believe it can work better. We have tried to recognise two particular changes to the scheme have been well received by those were involved in it. The first is the extension for a further five years, which…