I want to begin by apologising to the Acting Chairman and the Deputies for the fact that I will need to leave early because I have an engagement at the European Council this evening. I have already conveyed apologies to Deputies Pearse Doherty and Mairéad Farrell, and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, who will take over from me in a few moments. I will quickly answer the question put to me by Deputy Farrell. The Government's Housing for All strategy includes an action from my Department to collect data…

The commitment to a vacant property tax is clear in Housing for All. The 2018 Indecon report reflected the housing market as it stood then but we are now in a situation where we need to make even more urgent use of properties and land available for housing and accommodation purposes. That is why the Housing for All strategy contains a different commitment to the introduction of a vacant property tax. That said, the vacant property tax is only one of a number of measures we will need to implement to make progress in…

I completely reject any claims that the information and guidance my officials prepare for me is in any way massaged or in any way excludes important information that I need to make decisions. I receive full, impartial and comprehensive input and advice from my officials on this and every other matter. The information notes I receive and the evaluations that are given to me are part of how that guidance is provided to me. I have had ongoing engagement with my officials on this matter and they have provided me with c…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 91 together. The objective of the wage subsidy scheme is to support employment and maintain the link between the employer and the employee insofar as is possible. The EWSS has been a key component of the Government's response to the Covid-19 crisis. It is an economy-wide scheme that operates across all sectors. In monetary terms, the overall support provided today by the EWSS is more than €6.6 billion, comprising direct subsidies of almost €5.7 billion and PRSI forgone of €90…

The answer to the Deputy's first question is "Yes". In order for a company to participate in this scheme from next year, it must be participating in the scheme for the month of December. I am aware of concerns that have been raised by a number of hotels that have a very high seasonal dimension to their business. For a hotel or any business to be excluded from the scheme at the moment, however, means that its business performance is better than a 30% decline against the period in 2019. That means that business is tr…

The overwhelming majority of companies that have participated in the EWSS went into it because they genuinely believed they would need it at that point. They did so based on the effect of the pandemic on their business. The near overwhelming experience both Revenue and I have had is that of employers participating in the scheme in good faith. It is the case that a number of companies that found that their business performance was better than expected have returned the EWSS payment that was available. I will repeat …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that he has raised this with me on a number of occasions. I appreciate that a number of businesses we value and that provide very valuable employment to our country find themselves in a position that they are slightly outside the entry threshold of a 30% decline in their business. This figure of 70% has now been consistently in place since our wage subsidy schemes have been introduced - both for the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and the EWSS. We have a…

I am not interfering with any business; I am supporting business. While I appreciate the companies to which the Deputy has referred are facing many difficulties and challenges and they have like many other businesses had a tough couple of years, I reiterate that fundamentally the reason they are outside the scheme at the moment is their trading performance is better than a 30% decline versus 2019. For some time, we have made clear that to enter the scheme, a company’s change in business and change in turnover has t…

I thank the Deputy. I do not see any reason as to why the good cheer would evaporate and it certainly will not for me-----

I want to return the festive wishes to the Deputy. The short answer to her question is that I just finished the Finance Bill last night in the Dáil, including with her good self. We have just completed the Finance Bill for this year. The review will be completed well in advance of next year's finance Bill. As of yet, I have not set the terms of reference, initiated the process as to who will do the work or indicated by when the review will be complete. If I were to give the Deputy my judgment now, I would say it wo…

The scheme is helping many to get on the properly ladder and it is helping many who need support when they are buying their first home. More than 29,000 first-home purchasers have benefited from the scheme since it was set up. On the reviews that we have had, while the Deputy is correct that the most recent independent cost-benefit analysis of this was in 2018, this process is subject to a review in the tax strategy group papers that are published every year. This scheme is examined regularly by my Department. Whil…

On the additional points that the Deputy has made, 11% of the purchases that were made of homes in our country over the past 12 months or so were covered by the help-to-buy scheme. I do not accept that a scheme that supports the purchase of approximately one in ten homes is itself the cause of the significant house price inflation that we are facing. The cause of where we are at the moment is the well documented and understood issues relating to lack of supply that the Government is making progress on. Some 60% of …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 98 and 106 together. I am advised by Revenue that 22,100 businesses have claimed the CRSS and that a total of €704 million has been paid out. For the EWSS, that figure is now at more than €6.6 billion in respect of 696,900 employees and 51,700 employers. In County Clare, the EWSS is in use for 630 employers and 6,725 employees, while 795 businesses are availing of the CRSS and 60 businesses are using the BRSS. In Limerick there are 970 employers and 10,930 employees on the EWSS,…

I thank the Deputy for recognising the role this scheme has played. It has been invaluable in supporting our domestic economy and it will lay the foundation for the continued economic recovery of Ireland from this pandemic. It is valued by many businesses that are on it at the moment. Regarding the particular matter the Deputy has raised, I respectfully say that there is not an anomaly with regard to it. In fact, there is clarity regarding how people do or do not get into the scheme. I have been clear for some time…

I was aware of the rates issue and I thank the Deputy for bringing it up. I will have my officials look into it because I appreciate that at this point in the year, given everything that has happened with this disease, the strain and anxiety that smaller hospitality businesses are facing is very intense. I will look into that for the Deputy. On the EWSS, I need to indicate to the Dáil that I believe our health service will allow us to reach a point in the new year where we will need to phase out the EWSS. It is a s…

I thank the Deputy for her question. I will share the full breakdown with her by sector which I have available to me. Very broadly, around 26% of the scheme was made available to the hospitality sector. After that, sectors such as retail are very high recipients of funding from the EWSS. It is available for sectors. I do not have the figures available now, but I will get the information sent on to the Deputy's office across the day. On the Deputy's point on sectors that may not need support, it is important to stat…

The wage subsidy schemes, namely, the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and its predecessor, the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, have been a substantial and key part of the Government response to the pandemic. The EWSS has played a central role in supporting businesses, encouraging employment and helping to maintain the link between employers and employees. Since the introduction of the scheme, it has reflected an economy-wide policy that operates across all sectors. It is widely acknowledged as a very suc…

I welcome the support from all who have spoken for the recommendations that have been made to the Dáil this evening. I also welcome colleagues' general support for the EWSS and the very positive role it has played in the preservation of employers and the maintenance of work during such a difficult period of the pandemic in our country. I will say a few words about the various issues raised by the Deputies this evening. As Deputy Boyd Barrett acknowledged on other occasions, we have, through the EWSS and CRSS, done …

Before I respond to the nature of the recommendation tabled by Senator Higgins, I have a couple of opening points about the State's involvement in the provision of homes. First, it is wrong to suggest that the Government is subcontracting out the need to meet housing needs to the private sector. This year, the State is spending €4.1 billion in either directly building homes itself, or enabling the delivery of more homes. If one takes even a short walk around Dublin city centre at the moment, one will see the homes …

I fundamentally disagree with the Senator's description of housing policy being dictated by the market. Macro-prudential rules are not being dictated by the market. The State spending €4.1 billion on building homes directly or helping to get them built is not being dictated by the market. Senator Casey spoke about work happening in his community. The work Dublin City Council is doing in directly building new homes in the heart of our city centre is not being dictated by the market. The role of approved housing bodi…