Cé go gcuirfidh siad siúd atá i dteideal an bónas €1,000 fáilte roimhe, níl go leor soiléiriú ann faoi cé go díreach atá i dteideal an bónas seo a fháil. Mar shampla, caidé faoi na glantóirí sna hospidéil agus iad sin nach bhfuil fostaithe go díreach ag Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte? An dtig leis an Tánaiste soiléiriú a thabhairt faoi sin? An grúpa ba mhó gur mhaith liom ardú ar maidin ná na cúramóirí baile. Le dhá bhliain anuas d’oibrigh siad go dian dícheallach gan stad agus níl na cúramóirí seo in ann leas…

While I reckon there are three points to this, three different steps that were agreed, I am focused on the €1,000 bonus payment. This morning the Taoiseach stated that a panel will be established. When he was questioned directly about categories such as carers, he said they are not ruled out. The Tánaiste has given an answer here today that the payment will only be made to those working in clinical settings. Is there a possibility that carers will be included when it comes to the €1,000 bonus payment? What is the r…

I want to raise again with the Tánaiste an issue I have raised a number of times. This is the need for the Brandon report to be published in full. It found there were 108 incidents of sexual abuse perpetrated against at least 18 intellectually disabled residents by another resident between 2003 and 2016 at the Ard Gréine Court complex, Stranorlar, County Donegal. The publication of the report has been blocked at every turn by the HSE, the Garda and now by the Attorney General, according to reports in The Irish Time…

Tá costais fhuinnimh sa tír seo ag ardú agus tá teaghlaigh amuigh ansin ag streachailt lena gcuid billí a íoc. Tá fíorbhrú ar dhaoine le hairgead a fháil chun a gcuid tithe a théamh an fómhar agus an Nollaig seo. Tá an Rialtas ag déanamh neamhaird air seo. Níl sé ag gníomhú cosúil le rialtais eile ar fud na hEorpa. Cén fáth? Tá pacáiste de thacaíochtaí de dhíth ar dhaoine anois le dul i ngleic leis an ghéarchéim seo. There is no doubt that winter is here. Those on low and middle incomes are facing energy price hike…

There seems to be a trend here. It was the same when the Government was going to roll out free antigen tests but then Lidl and so on sorted it out. It is likely that the same thing will happen here. The Government will take so long to come up with a scheme that the weather will have got better. We will be into the spring or the summer and the Government will say that help is no longer needed. We have been raising this issue with the Government since October. There have been 35 energy price increases. It was 4°C yes…

And their bills will keep on going up.

The British Government intends to introduce a requirement for EU citizens who are not Irish citizens to apply for travel clearance if they wish to cross the Border on this island. It is bizarre that I am even saying that because the proposal is so disgraceful. It is such a shameful measure. It threatens livelihoods, particularly those in the tourism sector in my region, the north west. It places massive stress on individuals from other EU countries who reside in this State. It undermines the Good Friday Agreement a…

Is the Minister of State's script available to Members?

Ar dtús báire, I commend Deputies Mairéad Farrell and Patricia Ryan for bringing forward this timely, well-drafted legislation. The Regulation of Tenderers Bill 2021 would ensure that some of the problems that have arisen from the gross mismanagement of projects such as the national children's hospital, mismanagement that we are, unfortunately, all too familiar with, does not happen again. This legislation provides specifically for two important regulations. It would put in place a system for identifying abnormally…

I welcome that we will be dealing with the Final Stage of this legislation. As we discussed during the debate on the Finance Bill, the purpose of this Bill is to ratify agreements to the European Stability Mechanism, ESM, treaty and the Single Resolution Fund, SRF, intergovernmental agreement. This is required to fulfil the agreement that was reached by the Eurogroup on 30 November of last year. The Minister has described this as "a crucial stepping stone on our path to strengthen the Economic Monetary Union". I am…

We need to have a rational and sensible debate on corporation tax. This is no reflection on the passion I heard from Deputy Ring but, unless I am misreading it, that is not what this amendment is concerned with. Some companies operating in Ireland will pay a higher rate of tax of 15%. That is acknowledged in the amendment. The Minister for Finance signed up to that on behalf of the State as part of the OECD negotiations. It was the Minister's view, shared by us, that it would have been better if we were able to mai…

No, we are not.

The Minister is at it again saying how terrible things would be under Sinn Féin. Many of the companies Deputy Ring mentioned were here since long before the SARP, including Coca-Cola, Allergan's predecessor and Apple. Is he really suggesting that if we get rid of SARP, they will pack up and go? That is nonsense. The taxation proposals we have on individual incomes above €140,000 leaves the effective rate still below what it was in 2014, when many of these companies were here in the first place. The Minister can out…

The Minister is increasing the taxes for corporations. The Deputy might not have got the memo.

It might not have reached Mayo yet.

I move amendment No. 18: In page 96, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: "Report on the application of capital gains tax to all sales of property by REITs and IREFs 40. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the application of the full rate of capital gains tax of 33 per cent to all disposals of property of the rental business of a REIT, IREF, or group of REIT or IREF.". I support the Ceann Comhairle's earlier comments. I, too, b…

This is irrelevant. We are talking about a tax issue.

This is a strategic intervention.

Deputy Durkan's comment was that I am putting forward the idea of capital gains tax and hammering those who have the money. I am not putting forward the idea of capital gains tax. Capital gains tax applies to everybody else, it just does not apply to IREFs or REITs. What I am saying is that everybody else has to pay capital gains tax, but there is an exemption for these two funds. Deputy Durkan knows that. That is not right.

That is not right. I will give an example. If a handful of us set up a company and we purchased a number of rental properties and we have a rental income of €10 million per annum, then the company will have to pay corporation tax on the income. If we dispose of some of those properties, we will have to pay capital gains tax at the upper limit. If the company then wants to give us dividends from the profit it is making, we will pay a dividend withholding tax of 25% and because we are resident in Ireland we will pay …