We are going on to Report Stage. I may be able to respond to the point then.

Today, we discuss the Finance Bill 2020, which will give legislative effect to the budget for next year. The Bill has been the subject of detailed discussion in the Dáil and I expect that it will also be subject to detailed discussion and consideration here in this House. I look forward to the contributions of Senators. Ireland currently faces many challenges. Brexit could rightly be seen as the most immediate future threat. We remain uncertain of the final outcome of Brexit but we must ensure that we are prepared …

I thank all Senators who contributed to the debate. I appreciate all of the points made. I have taken note of them but it will not be possible to respond to each of them in the time available to me. The budget was framed to deal with three particular issues facing us this year, namely, Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. These matters underpin the measures in the Finance Bill. I will try to respond to the points made in succession. All Senators accepted that this is a difficult economic time. The issu…

We are discussing a group of four amendments. Amendment No. 1 seeks to delete the €75 figure entirely, amendment No. 2 seeks to reduce it to €50, amendment No. 3 seeks to reduce the €75 figure to €1 and amendment No. 4 calls for a review to be laid before the House on the operation of this section of the Act within 12 months. As originally published, the Bill required the value of qualifying goods to exceed €175 for third-country travellers to qualify for the scheme. It also required UK citizens to show proof that …

I appreciate the additional comments that have been made by Senators in the second round of discussions on this measure. First, I must bow to Senator Casey, who knows the industry exceptionally well. Some people use the purchases. They purchase items before they leave the country and take those items with them. I hope, therefore, nobody is listening too carefully to that and starts checking to see whether a person used the shillelagh before he or she brought it home. I wish to make one little addition to what Senat…

I have listened carefully to what everybody has said. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, when he spoke on Second Stage of the Bill, said: ...there is a commitment from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to carry out that review. I reassure Senators that the Government will undertake that review over the next 12 months to see how that is impacting on the retail sector, trading and so on. He gave that commitment on the floor of the House. Therefore, this review will happen. I make a few general …

No.

Since I last spoke, a number of Senators have spoken. One Senator asked me to look at the big picture when I pointed out, for the benefit of people watching in order that they would understand what the debate is about, the maximum amount of VAT a person could be in a position not to claim back as a result of the new threshold of €75. If somebody spends €75, the maximum VAT in that transaction would be €17 to €18. Of that, 50% goes to the company that processed the VAT, so the rebate to the person would be €8 or €9.…

I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this issue relating to Clonmel credit union. He has been in contact with me about it on a couple of occasions in recent days. Normally, in the run-up to Christmas, as the Deputy outlined, the credit union would have paid out an interest rebate or dividend, having had its AGM and having received authorisation to make those payments. The Government recognises the important role credit unions play in Irish society as volunteer co-operative financial institutions. In the current enviro…

I thank the Deputy for his remarks. As I outlined in my response, the prohibition on a virtual AGM is set out in the Credit Union Act 1997. It is not possible to change primary legislation by way of a statutory instrument. Much as I might like to be able to say otherwise, it is important to be clear and not to build up any false hopes that this could be an option. Statutory instruments are secondary legislation and one could only be brought into effect if the Act in question made specific provision for that. The De…

The Deputy has asked about section 46. The section allows UK insurance companies without a presence in the State to obtain tax approval for contracts under section 785 where they are authorised to transact insurance business by the authority in the UK which is responsible for supervising such undertakings. This will mean an individual whose pension is administered by a UK insurance company can continue to benefit from tax relief on pension contributions.

Section 59 provides for a reduced rate of capital gains tax on investment gains accruing to fund managers in respect of investment in venture capital funds. This section is amended so that investments made in the UK can be taken into account in the calculation of the amount of relief. It is a capital gains tax measure. We need to provide for gains in the UK to be taken into account in calculating the amount of relief in respect of capital gains tax.

I can give the answer to that in respect of all the sections that have income tax or capital gains tax. We are only changing Irish law. We have no jurisdiction to change English law. It is a good question. Is it being reciprocated on the other side? It may or may not be. That is the answer. If it is not reciprocated on the other side, Irish and English taxpayers will be covered under the normal double taxation agreements that apply between countries in any event. If the UK reciprocates, that is perfect. If it does …

It would depend on the place of residence of the taxpayer.

Under a double taxation agreement, the gain will only be taxed once on whatever is the higher rate of tax in either jurisdiction. That agreement already exists in any event regardless of Brexit. Let us suppose the tax rate on a particular item in Ireland is 30% and the tax rate in the UK happens to be 35%. Depending on where a person is settling his or her tax affairs and where he or she is resident, if 30% is paid in one country, only the balance must be paid in the other country and vice versa .

I move amendment No. 8: In page 38, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2010 61. Section 2 of the Act of 2010 is amended— (a) in subsection (1), in the definition of “Community”, by the insertion of “, subject to subsection (4A),” before “has the same meaning”, (b) in subsection (4), by the insertion of “, subject to subsection (4A),” before “references to Member States”, and (c) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (4): “(4A) In this Act, eac…

Absolutely. I can confirm that.

Amendment No. 9 seeks to delete the section of the Bill that provides for a threshold for the retail export scheme. As referenced by Deputy Seán Crowe, the explanatory memorandum to the Bill refers to the original provision that the value of qualifying goods must exceed €175 in order for third-country residents to qualify for the scheme. It also requires UK citizens to show proof that VAT and customs and excise duties have been paid. These measures do not eliminate the use of the VAT retail export scheme for UK res…

We have had a discussion on this topic for the past couple of hours. It is very important that all of the views would be discussed but this is one issue on which we have not arrived at a consensus. The Bill before us contains approximately 120 sections and 50% of them relate to the Department of Finance. The entire essence of everything we have done relates to various arrangements between Ireland and Northern Ireland as a result of the protocol and between Ireland and the UK, which is no longer a member state of th…

I move amendment No. 10: In page 42, line 14, to delete "€175" and substitute "€75".