On behalf of the Minister for Justice, I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan for raising this matter. I am happy to clarify the Department's responsibilities in regard to land and property legislation. The Deputy mentioned a number of organisations, including CAB, the money laundering unit in An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners, as well as local authorities. As he rightly points out, this is also an issue that can impact across various Departments. The Department of Justice works to make Ireland a safe, fai…

I again acknowledge the remarks made by Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan in highlighting issues of major concern to many people throughout the country. In my opening remarks I was speaking specifically about tax clearance certificates, but this is very important. A personal public service, PPS, number is required for a deed to be stamped before the transaction can be completed. There are various ways that can happen. If somebody has a legitimate PPS number, that PPS number goes on the stamped deed to the Revenue Commissio…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. The issue of housing and NAMA is always a matter for discussion and should regularly be discussed in the Seanad and Dáil Éireann. As the Senator rightly said, the taxpayer heavily invested in bailing out the banks originally. As a preamble, the five banks the Senator mentioned that were bailed out and whose commercial loans were transferred to NAMA included Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, which were subsequently liquidated by the State and the Houses of the Oireach…

I thank the Senator for his remarks. It is also important to state that commercial viability is becoming more challenging for developers throughout the sector. Some sites that have planning permission in place are not viable to build on, and this is especially true for certain apartment blocks. Under NAMA's legislation, commercial viability is the most important and relevant factor for NAMA-funded residential development. This basically means that NAMA can only finance developments that are expected to yield a prof…

We are here to discuss Second Stage of the Finance Bill 2021. I understand that Senators have been sent a summary of the Bill addressing its individual sections. I do not intend to go into that level of detail now. Instead I will consider the overall Bill and the principles behind it. As we know, the Finance Bill gives legislative support for the budget measures introduced by the Government in October. The Bill makes a number of other important changes to tax legislation. The 2022 budget addressed the major issues …

I join the Acting Chairperson in offering condolences to Senator Currie on the death of her father. I do not think we have spoken to each other since that sad event. I know all present join with me in offering condolences. I thank the Senators who contributed to the debate. I appreciate all the points that have been made. I will go through the issues raised in sequence. Obviously, the issue of the hospitality sector was singled out as a key one for consideration today. The issue is now about how to survive at this …

I thank the Deputy for raising that. He has raised the issue with me and we have been working on it. Yesterday I personally had a meeting with Insurance Ireland, which represents all the major insurance companies in Ireland, the Alliance for Insurance Reform, which produced a list of specific areas where there are problems, and Brokers Ireland. All three of them and myself met yesterday to discuss these pressure points. Work is continuing on it. A number of areas have immediate deadlines. The brokers are trying to …

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to address the House on this matter this evening. As he is aware, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, was unable to attend and asked me to stand in on her behalf. I want to start by acknowledging on a personal level that the challenges being faced by our hospitality and entertainment sectors, both currently and over the previous months, are severe. It is a difficult time for many, particularly those working in these industries. As a Government, we recognise the difficulties…

I want to acknowledge what the Deputy has said. I outlined the provisions that were made at national level across the sector. Each one of them worked its way down to individual people who are involved in the industry. I mentioned the global name for each of the schemes, but every one of them had a positive impact on many people on the ground. It takes time for those schemes to work their way down through the system, but this has been done. Everybody now recognises that many people are back at work. Some 90% of peop…

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley, who has another commitment and regrets that she cannot be here. I thank both Senators for raising this matter, which provides me with an opportunity to clarify the current position, which I suspect the Senators are well aware of. It is important to bring it to the attention of the Seanad to keep the pressure on everyone involved in the matter. To plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demograp…

I thank both Senators for strongly driving home the point. I had a similar experience in Portlaoise. It is an expanding area and school places is always an issue. I am providing practical experiences and not the official script. It will take a couple of years to build a new school, even if the contract is signed tomorrow. Architectural design, planning, tendering and construction is required. There will be a few years during which there will be a problem and one of the key solutions is that some schools will have t…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in relation to NAMA, which has been ongoing for a number of years. NAMA was given a difficult job to do when it was established as an independent commercial body with a very specific legal and commercial mandate, which was approved not just by the Dáil and the Seanad, but specifically by the European Commission, in 2010. It is following its legislative mandate, as established by this House, the Dáil and the European Commission. NAMA has, to date, made considerable progress t…

I am not saying the Senator is unaware of this, but it is important to note that NAMA does not own the development sites in its portfolio. The public does not necessarily know that. NAMA owns the loans; it does not own the land or the properties. The properties are owned by developers who owe money to NAMA. If the developers can clear their debts with NAMA, they are gone. If they clear their debts to the State, they are gone. NAMA does not own the sites over which it has mortgages. It has a financial interest, but …

On behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to speak about the funding of Longford County Council, and in particular the loss of income due to the closure of Lough Ree power station in Lanesborough. I believe I was present at the online meeting the Senator mentioned involving the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Kieran Mulvey some time ago. I know the Senator made a very strong case on the issue on that occasion. It is good that he is taking the opp…

I, again, acknowledge the contribution of Senator Carrigy. Having listened to everything he said, if every Oireachtas Member was as well informed as to what was happening in his or her local authority area as he is, it would add to the richness and quality of the debate and the information available to us in this House when dealing with these types of issues. The Senator listed a number of projects and it is clear he has a great interest in each one. I acknowledge what he said about the 15% being used for matching …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and I appreciate that. There is much heavy detail in this Bill. It is about ratification of a treaty between the Eurogroup members within the EU. It is not specifically an EU treaty or an agreement. It involves the Eurogroup within the EU. There is a treaty in place. When people read the legislation they will note it is very short but it contains very long Schedules because it relates to a treaty. All the appendices in respect of the treaty and content are written in both Irish and in En…

I thank all of the Deputies for their interesting contributions to this debate. As most have said, it is a technical and detailed debate but, nonetheless, it is very important for the stability of State finances and the banking sector across Europe. To conclude today's discussions, I want to reiterate the purpose of this legislation and then respond briefly to some of the issues that were raised by Members. Obviously. there will be a more detailed, one-to-one discussion on Committee Stage. The reforms outlined in t…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 181(1).

I move: That Dáil Éireann authorises the Minister for Finance, pursuant to section 6(1) of the National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019 (the ‘Act’), not to pay the prescribed amount (€500,000,000) under section 5(2) of the Act into the National Surplus (Exceptional Contingencies) Reserve Fund for the year 2021 having regard to the fact that in accordance with section 6(3) of the Act the Minister is satisfied that, by reason of the exceptional circumstances posed by the public expenditu…