The Government and I have shown the commitment we have to make a difference to the huge challenges many are facing by increasing the funding in our capital building programmes for local authorities all over the country to build more social and affordable houses and by our efforts to support the private sector to deliver more homes. I refer to the role and impact of the help to buy scheme, which the Opposition is against. I refer to the shared equity scheme, which the Opposition is against. I refer to the Land Devel…

A deduction, as has just been described, provides relief from income tax on up to €35,000 for employees who are tax resident in Ireland but travel out of the State to temporarily carry out duties of their office or employment in certain qualifying countries. In this way, it acts as incentive to Irish businesses seeking to develop and expand into emerging markets in any of the 30 qualifying countries. In order to qualify for this deduction, an employee must spend a minimum of 30 days abroad in a continuous 12-month …

As the Deputy and the House will be aware, mortgage interest relief for principal private residences was phased out on a gradual basis over the period between 2009 and 2020. The decision to abolish this relief was taken in the wake of the financial crisis, with the cost of the relief being one of the influencing factors. For example, in 2008 the scheme cost in excess of €700 million per annum. In addition, it should be noted that prior to its eventual abolition, the top two income deciles accounted for close to hal…

I am going to ask my officials to look at the issue of refundable tax credits in the context of the tax strategy group, TSG, process which will be done next year and will lead to reports being made available to the public before budget 2024. I listened to the issues that Deputy Doherty raised on Committee Stage. It is worth making the point that the very high income earners to whom he refers also play an important role in either the creation of employment in our country and the payment of income tax in a very progr…

Excuse me. I apologise to the Dáil and to the Deputy in that regard. As he will be aware we operate a pension system where contributions and pension fund gains are exempt from income tax but income from pension drawdown is taxed. Where data is available in regard to the Exchequer cost of tax relief for pensions, it is publicly available and included in the Revenue Commissioners publication. With regard to distributional analysis I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that prior to the introduction of real-time r…

I have made the key points on this. The average level of income that is set aside as per differing levels of income within our economy is reasonably consistent at 3% to 6%. Many of the individuals to whom the Deputy is referring as the 1% play an important role in the generation of income, employment and important public services in our country and who through our progressive tax code pay a large share of the tax revenue that is collected within our State.

As I indicated earlier, the issue of refundable tax credits is something my Department looked at a number of years ago but I believe it now merits further consideration. On Committee Stage, I said that this would be done through the TSG process. I do not believe the implementation of this will be as simple as Deputy Doherty is saying, but I accept it is a matter that needs further consideration and it will happen in that process.

I thank the Deputies for raising this important topic. I will answer some of the questions put to me, by Deputy Barry, in particular. We do not have information or guidance at present from the ECJ regarding when the final hearing relating to the Apple case will happen. I imagine that at this point in the year it will probably be some time in 2023 but that-----

I do not have information relating to the case. As I said, I imagine that at this point it will probably be next year but that is just my judgment. We do not have guidance regarding when it will happen. Deputy Boyd Barrett made reference to the note I shared with him regarding trying to provide a range on the impact of corporations and large employers on our economy in 2022 and 2023. At the base of the note, it states very clearly that the gross operating surplus he referred to is not a measure used in tax calculat…

I thank the Deputies. Starting with Deputy Barry, the opening of our economy since 1958, the role of foreign direct investment, FDI, in Ireland and our relationship with the Single Market has been a huge success. It has led to an extraordinary transformation in living standards in our country. If the period up to 1958 and the early 1960s showed that an inward-looking model of investment and employment could not work for our economy and was going to lead to living standards that would not meet the needs of our socie…

Energy policy, including the increasing costs of energy supply and taxation and profit, is a matter of key concern to the Government. In April, the Government approved and published the National Energy Security Framework, which sets the overarching response to the impact of the war in Ukraine on the energy system here in Ireland. In late September, Ireland, along with our fellow member states, agreed a new EU regulation to tackle high energy pricing in a co-ordinated way. It contains two revenue-raising measures wh…

I will begin by addressing the amendment concerning copyright and the intellectual property rights of performers and actors. Copyright law falls under the remit of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I am, however, aware that the issue of copyright is important for Irish culture and arts and for the media sector. I am also aware that there have been issues regarding intellectual property rights and the remuneration of actors and performers. An instance of the latter was highlighted in the Committee …

The Deputy is making extraordinary allegations. He is saying structures have been put in place that are leading to the breaking of the law in relation to the claiming of state aid and the use of taxpayers' money. If he or the people who are raising this matter with him have evidence, they should report it to the Revenue Commissioners or the Health and Safety Authority or raise it directly with the relevant body. We oversee the implementation of the section 481. We published a thorough overview of the operation of t…

I understand completely, but the Deputy is making allegations on the operation of a valuable credit and that merits investigation.

The Government has recognised the pressures families are under. I heard Deputy Michael Healy-Rae talk about the need for politicians in here to be servants of the people. I serve the people. It is equally important to be honest with the people and make the case for what we can afford to do and the level of challenge and risk we could face in the future. We brought forward €4 billion worth of additional measures from the start of October until the end of February. I remember the budgets in 2016 and 2017, which were …

I thank the Deputy. The Central Bank of Ireland publishes mortgage statistics on a quarterly basis. The most recent statistics indicate there were around 719,500 primary dwelling mortgage accounts at the end of June last with an outstanding balance of €98.7 billion. The Central Bank estimates that around 27% of primary dwelling mortgages with credit institutions are on a tracker interest rate and a further 20% are on a non-tracker variable rate or where the interest rate is fixed for up to one year. Mortgage intere…

It is important to be clear on the possible costs of this. I have outlined what the cost was in 2008. The most recent data, from the end of June, indicate there are currently 720,000 mortgage accounts with an average outstanding balance of €137,100 at an interest rate of 2.5%. Assuming mortgage interest relief was granted at a rate of 20% on the average interest payment, such a reintroduction would cost in the region of €500 million per annum. In seeking to understand the background to the Deputy's proposal, I soug…

I understand hard-pressed households are looking to the Government for help, which we provided in budget 2023 and which we want to provide to make a difference. However, those hard-pressed households, the citizens of Ireland who are experiencing such strain, also have an expectation that any proposals that will be brought forward will be affordable, will make sense and will not create new risks for our country. The Deputy's party is now advocating that the State pay a share of increasing mortgage bills in the time …

Many of those proposals were contained in the Sinn Féin budget proposal, which is no longer available. It has disappeared from the party's website. If I want to find out about Sinn Féin's budget proposals for 2022, they are still available. If I want to find out about its proposals for the budget we are debating, they are gone. Why are they gone? The reason they are gone is that the proposals Sinn Féin brings forward will be a source of risk and undermine our public finances. By doing so, and by the party's pretend…

I thank the Deputy for raising that point. Yes, of course we are monitoring the impact that rising interest rates are having on the cost of living and on families, households and businesses. The Central Bank has not approached me looking for additional powers or tools to deal with the consequences of that impact. As the Deputy will be aware, the code of conduct on mortgage arrears already sets out the provisions under our consumer protection code to help borrowers in borrowing distress. We recognise the great diffi…