As the Minister said, in the past we have seen how ECOFIN and the Eurogroup have acted swiftly in playing their roles when they saw fit to hold countries to account for their acts of aggression. A package of financial and economic sanctions against Russia being introduced and renewed several times was a clear example of this. However, as well as accountability there needs to be consistency. There need to be sanctions against the State of Israel. What I am hearing from the Minister today is that this is not his role…

In the past two years, mortgage interest costs for households have risen by more than 65%. For over a year, Sinn Féin has called for the introduction of targeted mortgage interest relief for households struggling with rising interest rates. The Government opposed those calls for months, but it then performed a U-turn, another example of where the Government has seen the sense in what Sinn Féin said. It introduced a mortgage interest tax credit in the budget. However, it made a mess of it, if we can be honest. I sai…

In budget 2024, the Minister introduced this tax credit and that was, as I said, after sustained calls from Sinn Féin for the introduction of mortgage interest relief for households that had seen their mortgage rates spiral, but there are serious problems with the tax credit, as I told him at the time. I have raised the fact that 138,000 mortgage holders who have their seen their mortgage costs rise would not qualify for anything from the tax credit, given they have been excluded because their balance is less than …

People are claiming. That woman whose mortgage costs have increased by €5,000 cannot get it. She has been refused because the Minister made a balls of the design of this legislation.

With respect, the Minister made a mess of it. That is the reality. A total of €125 million was allocated to this. Only €14 million has been drawn down so far, or about 11%. The Minister stated 14,000 people have claimed the credit. We are in the month of April. There are 707,000 mortgages and only 14,000 people have claimed the credit. It is clear the tax credit is not working as it was intended. I earlier raised the fact the requirement to fill out an income tax liability form is acting as a clear disincentive for…

Not true.

I raise again the serious, pressing and critical issue of homeowners affected by the defective concrete block crisis in my own county and elsewhere. The Minister and his Department are centrally involved with this and have responsibility for key issues, including the issue of future mortgageability of remediated homes. I ask the Minister again to update the Dáil on his engagement with the banking sector, with his Department and with the Department of housing on this critical issue. I attended a meeting where 1,300 …

This is only one part of the problem. As I said, this scheme was introduced and announced by the Government in November 2021. It is now 2024 and there are 1,300 people coming up to Inishowen to say it is not working for them. We had people telling us that they were demolishing their homes and it would cost them €100,000 out of their own pocket to rebuild them because the scheme is not fit for purpose. Many others in the room could not even do that because they did not have the ability to borrow that level of money.…

To be clear, what the banks are proposing here is 0% loans to those with affected homes. They are going to provide this to non-bank customers - people who do not have accounts, borrowings or mortgages with them. This is for everybody. The easiest way for this to happen is actually for the Department itself to do it. Instead of having to go through the bank, the Department should provide this money upfront. The Minister's officials suggested that to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. When the …

-----and we cannot even get over that hurdle.

I will finish on this point.

Months ago I pleaded with the Minister and asked him to inject momentum into this issue. Unfortunately, I do not see that from him.

This is in relation to the benefit-in-kind, BIK, exemption for employer contributions to PRSA legislation that was introduced in the Finance Act 2022. It appears to me that this is facilitating aggressive tax planning. It also appears to me that the Department was warned this was happening, probably on more than one occasion. It was also warned prior to its introduction that it would or could happen. I ask the Minister to make a statement on this very serious matter.

This is a massive tax loophole that was created by his predecessor as Minister, Deputy Donohoe. It remains in our tax code despite it being pointed out to Ministers. Limiting the amount that can be contributed to a pension with full tax relief in a single year is crucial to ensure equity in our tax system, to control revenue and to prevent abuse. The changes made by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, undermined all of those objectives. Previously, employer contributions to PRSAs were subject to income tax and USC. While…

Does the Minister accept this represents a radical departure from pension policy and creates a significant loophole in our tax code?

The Minister claims this was done on the recommendation of the interdepartmental group on pensions and tax reform but it is a clear misunderstanding or misreading of the reading of the group's recommendation, which was to abolish the differential treatment of the PRSA for funding purposes compared with occupational schemes. That was not done. Occupational schemes are benefit limited. The changes made to PRSAs has totally reversed the position rather than equalised it, with PRSAs now providing a far higher level of …

This Bill, as the Minister outlined, provides for the establishment of two funds, namely the future Ireland fund and the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. It is fair to say these funds were first proposed in the context of two trends: future costs likely to be incurred by the State and the growth of corporation tax receipts in recent years. The Minister reflected on this fact on budget day by making explicit his intention for a portion of windfall tax receipts to be transferred to these funds. We have seen a…

Your time is up, just like the Government's.

Is é toradh pholasaí Fhine Gael ar an ngéarchéim tithíochta an leibhéal is airde easpa dídine ar taifead, na praghsanna tithíochta agus cíosanna is airde a bhí againn riamh, an leibhéal úinéireachta tí is ísle le 50 bliain agus seirbhísí sláinte i ngéarchéim. Is toradh pholasaí Fhine Gael é sin. Ní anois an t-am don tríú Taoiseach ó bhí an t-olltoghchán agus ní anois an t-am le leanúint ar aghaidh le polasaithe an Rialtais, atá tar éis teipeadh. Tá sé in am d'athrú agus d'olltoghchán. The Tánaiste and his party hav…

If the Tánaiste believes in that record, he should put it to the test and let the people decide, because I have nothing to fear from letting the people decide which vision they want - the leadership on this side of the House by Deputy Mary Lou McDonald or the leadership the Tánaiste he is offering, a leadership that ignored my points. He wants to continue the momentum on housing. We have the highest house prices, the highest rents, the highest levels of homelessness and the lowest levels of homeownership in the his…