It is not agreed.

It was not accepted. I agreed that we would accept amendment No. 11 if amendment No. 10, to retain the €75, was agreed. Deputy Howlin has not accepted that. It was his decision not to accept it.

In the interest------

Members who were here for the debate know we had a discussion on these three amendments which were grouped for discussion purposes. There was one discussion on the three amendments. It was a group discussion and there was no separate discussion on each amendment. The grouping order was accepted by all Members before the debate commenced. It was agreed to discuss the three amendments together. The grouping order was agreed and everybody knew we were discussing the three together at all stages during the debate. As p…

I move amendment No. 12: In page 44, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “Insertion of Schedule 9 in Act of 2010 66. The Act of 2010 is amended by the insertion of the following Schedule after Schedule 8: “SCHEDULE 9 Section 2(4A) NON-APPLICATION OF SECTION 2(4A) TO CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF ACT Part 1 Section 33 Section 34 Section 35 Section 56(1) Section 83 Section 88(8) Section 91 Section 91A Section 91B Section 91C Section 91D Section 91E Part 2 Section 59 Section 101 Section 102(3) Paragraph 5(1A) of S…

I move amendment No. 13: In page 46, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “ Amendment of Finance Act 1999 73. The Finance Act 1999 is amended— (a) in section 94— (i) in subsection (1), by the deletion of the definition of “Member State”, (ii) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (3A), a word” for “A word”, (iii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3): “(3A) In this Chapter, each reference to Member State shall apply as if the reference included a ref…

This Bill gives effect to the dissolution of the Credit Union Restructuring Board. In summary, the Bill provides for the dissolution of the Credit Union Restructuring Board, the transfer of certain functions of the Credit Union Restructuring Board to the Minister for Finance and makes the relevant amendments to the Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012. I will give some background on the establishment of the Credit Union Restructuring Board. Further to the 2011 to 2016 programme for Govern…

I thank Senators for their contributions and support of this legislation, which will formally dissolve the Credit Union Restructuring Board, ReBo. The Government recognises the importance of the role of the credit union sector as a volunteer and co-operative movement and the distinction between it and other types of financial institutions has been stated well by several Members. There were 156 credit unions restructured in 82 projects, involving assets of €6 billion across 24 counties. The final review of ReBo conc…

I am nudging them into mortgage lending. It is the main message I have for credit unions. They should start giving mortgages to people, as those people would be happier taking a mortgage from a credit union than a bank which could sell the loan to an international vulture fund. I have never heard of a credit union doing that. I thank Senators for their input and I look forward to progressing the legislation through the remaining Stages in the Seanad.

I appreciate the Seanad Éireann facilitating the taking of two Bills relating to credit union activities this evening. The Credit Union Restructuring Board (Dissolution) Bill 2019 has already gone through the Dáil and it should complete its passage through the Oireachtas next week. This Bill is starting here and will have to go to the Dáil but we want to ensure it is completed before the end of this year, if possible. This Bill was initially set out as the credit unions (miscellaneous provisions) Bill as the overwh…

I thank the Senators for their contributions on, and support for, this legislative measure which will formally amend the Credit Union Act 1997 to allow for general meetings, which are prohibited under the current health restrictions, to proceed. Some of the amendments will be permanent and will continue to operate after the interim period early next year. The Bill also amends the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 to allow for an increase in the number of consecutive terms which members of the Fiscal Advisory Council c…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil Chamber on the Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 following progression of the previous Stages in the Seanad. This Bill fulfils a commitment in the Programme for Government - Our Shared Future to progress the revision of the investment limited partnership structure and reflects the strategic priority outlined in the international financial services, IFS, 2020 action plan. In the interest of time, I wi…

I thank Deputies Ó Murchú, Redmond and Nash for their contributions. While I accept the point that this is a technical Bill, it deals with many significant issues. On beneficial ownership and who will be the ultimate owner, the provisions in this Bill strive to achieve the objectives mentioned. These amendments will ensure that the highest international transparency standards apply, including the EU anti-money laundering framework and that is why we are insisting on PPS numbers for any Irish resident. A person who …

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 ) to 181(1).

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter. He has given a very detailed list of properties that are exempt from the tax introduced in 2013 to provide a stable sustainable funding base for local authorities, broadening general taxation measures. It has raised approximately €3.5 billion to date. Approximately €473 million is raised by the tax per annum. This goes to fund the local authorities. The Senator has clearly outlined the need for such a tax to fund local authorities. The taxation of property through a r…

I understand the gist of the argument and accept what the Senator said. He highlighted regarding Dún Laoghaire the large amounts of money that may be due to a local authority when the changes are made next year. They will flow into 2022. As I said, the figure nationwide will be approximately €32 million. The programme for Government includes the provision for fairness and most homeowners will face no increase. Although there will be a change in the tax, it is proposed there should not be an increase. The Senator ha…

This motion raises two important issues from my point of view. The first of these is the issue of confidentiality and accountability on the part of Government. This brings me to what I want to see more of in Irish public life, namely, more openness and transparency at government level. The public want and are entitled to more openness, accountability and transparency on the part of the Government. We inherited a Victorian approach to politics. I want to see a change that includes more open discussion of and debate …

I bring the motion to the House to seek a resolution to agree the draft Data Protection Act 2018 (section 60(6)) (Central Bank of Ireland) Regulations 2020, as provided for under section 6(5)( a ) of the Data Protection Act 2018. Senators will have gathered from the gist of this that it is a technical matter. I have a detailed script but perhaps the best thing I can do is to explain what this is about in simple English. These regulations were prepared a number of years ago and involved the Data Protection Commissio…

I welcome this opportunity and appreciate all the comments that have been made. As people noted, many of the comments were not specific to this statutory instrument. Data breaches in financial institutions are one big issue that has been mentioned here on a few occasions. Some asked about the resourcing of the Data Protection Commission and whether it has sufficient resources to do the job from both an Irish and an EU perspective. Senator Higgins asked when some of the data protection regulations that have not been…

The amendment proposes a report on the Act. It is my intention, which I stated on Committee Stage, to lay a post-enactment scrutiny note 12 months after the enactment, in line with Standing Orders of the House. There will be a report, therefore. I am not in a position to prescribe what will be in that report before it is prepared but the gist of what is being said, and I referred to this on Committee Stage, is that the OECD BEPS project developed 15 actions designed to equip Government with domestic and internation…