We are doing that. That is why we are trying to build more homes. As already stated, the fundamental reason we have house price inflation at these levels is that we are not building enough homes. We need to build more homes and we need to do it more quickly. That is the answer to many of the challenges as regards affordability at the moment. We need to build more homes and, within that, have local authorities and State-led schemes that play a role in getting the prices of those homes down. That is what we are doing…

We have already given a commitment to go ahead with a review of the help-to-buy scheme. I indicated that in my statement earlier today and on budget day. The reason I am not accepting the recommendation is that I do not believe the Finance Bill is the right place to make commitments about when and by when reports are to be done. This is legislation. I have given a commitment that I will compile a report and described what I believe the priorities should be in the context of that report. That is why I do not believe…

As part of its national structure, Revenue has adopted a large cases-high wealth individuals division. That division is responsible for all taxation matters relating to high wealth individuals, who are currently defined as people with net wealth of €20 million or more. Revenue has also established a medium enterprises division and tax affairs of the next tier of high wealth individuals with wealth below the €20 million threshold are managed in this division. Responsibility for these cases in both divisions includes…

The Senator is requesting a comprehensive report on transborder workers' relief. This was discussed during the debate on last year’s Finance Bill, when I undertook that the relief would be examined as part of the work of the tax strategy group, TSG, process for 2021. I fulfilled this commitment and this relief was examined by that process earlier this year. This issue was also raised with me on Committee and Report Stages of the Dáil, in particular Revenue’s temporary concession for the years 2020 and 2021, introdu…

The Senator’s recommendations refer to reports on first, the tapering out of income tax credits at certain incomes and, second, the introduction of a high income levy. First, regarding tapering of income tax credits, there is already a substantial amount of research published on this subject. The income tax reform plan published by my Department in July 2016 examined this issue due to the fact that the Programme for a Partnership Government contained a commitment to consider the removal of the PAYE credit for high …

There is a fundamental difference here. The two Senators will always see work as something to be taxed at a higher level. They will always see companies, entrepreneurs and innovation as things to get more tax from. They, frankly, ignore the fact that other countries want the innovative companies that are located in Ireland. That is an inescapable fact of having a small, open economy in which ideas and people are mobile. I find it extraordinary that in the arguments and facts the Senators have put forward to me, the…

A person earning €140,000 is already paying a higher average rate of tax. That is already the case. Politicians such as me who believe we have tax structures at the moment that are fair and effective, and that play a role in ensuring those who have more pay more, do a disservice to those beliefs if we do not challenge the views we are hearing from our colleagues here. Let me repeat that if one earns more in Ireland, one pays a higher average rate of tax and as one earns more, one pays a higher marginal rate of tax.…

As the Senator will be aware, this change was proposed in an amendment during Report Stage of the Bill in Dáil Éireann. However, allow me to set out once again why I believe the introduction of such a relief is not appropriate. On Report Stage in the Dáil, Deputy Pearse Doherty noted correctly that relief in respect of rent paid by private tenants was previously available. However, as I explained, it was abolished in budget 2011 and it is no longer available to those who commenced renting for the first time from 8 …

I fully appreciate that we have huge challenges in the rental sector. I understand the anxiety and stress faced by many tenants who find their rents going up and are worried about whether they will have rental accommodation in the future. The Senator makes the case that we have huge difficulties in the rental sector, as we do. At the same time, we are at the point at which "landlord" has now become nearly a term of abuse in the way Sinn Féin uses it. That is the reality of the debate we are in. Every time Sinn Féin…

A whole variety of issues have been raised in this debate, from the taxation of REITs and IREFs to the issue of taxes on capital raised by Senator McDowell. I will say a word about each of the points I have heard. I will begin with Senator McDowell's point regarding the level of transactions we have in our economy being influenced, in the first place, by the level of tax on those transactions, a point with which I agree. That is my opening point on where we stand with our housing market at present. I keep saying th…

Sinn Féin quoted a paper from the Department of Finance. I was discourteous when Senators were speaking because I did not have the report to hand and wanted to get it so I could read out to Sinn Féin the conclusions of the report. I will not have papers from my Department being selectively quoted from to make arguments that the Department and I disagree with. The Senator quotes some points from the paper on institutional investors in the housing market but neglects to quote the conclusions from the paper. I will on…

Senator Higgins raised the performance of the large cases division in the Revenue Commissioners. I am committed to coming back to her in the context of the debate. The high-wealth individuals division is dealing with approximately 2,700 high net worth taxpayers. This also includes spouses and related entities. On average, the division carries out between 250 and 300 interventions per annum with settlements in the region of between €40 million and €50 million achieved. A similar case management approach is taken in …

It is precisely because of the planetary boundary, as Senator Higgins described it, that the Government decided to go ahead with an increase in carbon taxation. The Government could have done the easy thing. My fellow Ministers in Cabinet and the Deputies who support this Government could have said the price of energy is going up at a time when many families and businesses are facing increasing pressure and now is not the time to go ahead with a carbon tax. That could have been an option for the Government to take.…

That is a €20 million scheme.

That is a €20 million scheme. The Senator has been quoting figures of €400 million.

The Senator is comparing apples with pears. We are discussing the diesel rebate scheme, which is worth €20 million. The figures the Senator has produced are the difference in taxation between diesel and petrol. That is the €400 million figure. That figure is the disparity between the taxation of diesel and petrol. It is not the diesel rebate scheme. The diesel rebate scheme is worth approximately €20 million per year. They are different.

In that case, the Senator is supporting the equalisation of tax on petrol and diesel.

Given the concerns the Senator had regarding the impact of this measure on families and hard-pressed businesses, if she is proposing that on top of the change in carbon tax we should also equalise taxation between diesel and petrol, that is quite an argument to make. Many businesses, taxpayers and families are facing challenges at the moment. It is not an argument I would make or something I would do. The Government went ahead with increases in carbon taxation despite all the pressures. To overlay that, as I now un…

I am not sure if you are doubling down or rowing back.

I am not sure what you are doing.