I agree with that. What I will do is raise it at a political level as well. We have been raising it at an official level. I have directed my officials on a number of occasions on back-and-forth engagement with the Commission on this. I will speak to the Taoiseach as well because I know he has rightly sought a conversation at the European Council on foot of Israel's egregious breaches of international law. That is due to be scheduled for 18 and 19 June. I have examined whether Ireland can do something domestically b…

That is a fair point. I will correspond directly with the relevant European Commissioner in the first instance, following up on the official engagement and reflecting the view of the Oireachtas committee on the prospectus regulation. I also do not rule out having further political engagement with EU counterparts on this. What is clear, and I know there are strong views on this issue in this House and in this country, is that sometimes there can be a grey area and we can debate how much is in compliance with EU law …

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. The rate at which capital gains tax, CGT, is charged has varied both upwards and downwards since its introduction in 1975. The current standard rate of 33%, which applies to most gains, has been in place since 2012. However, a number of reliefs are already provided for business assets, including retirement relief on the transfer of business or farming assets, revised entrepreneur relief and participation exemption relief. For example, the revised entrepreneur relief pr…

I heard the Taoiseach's comments. I hear regularly from stakeholders and business groups about the importance of making sure that our taxation system is pro-enterprise. What I would say in response is that while that is important, everything is a balance. There will be a finite amount of things we can do in the budget on tax. I am eager that there will be a personal tax package. There was not one last year. I am very eager there will be one in the next budget and I know that is a view shared across the Government. …

I thank the Deputy and will reflect on what he has said. I would point out that there are already a number of exemptions. If I am being bluntly honest with the House, I do not believe that existing levels of CGT are acting as a disincentive to investment because when they are looked at beyond the headline rate, we already have a range of exemptions and reliefs on CGT, which are designed to try to foster certain activities and avoid taxing people in situations that would be seen as unreasonable, such as retirements …

I would be interested to one day tease through the Deputy's view on the investment accounts. I hope that is something he might consider supporting. As the Deputy is aware, ISIF is composed of the discretionary portfolio and the directed portfolio. ISIF holds the directed portfolio under direction from the Minister for Finance, comprising receipts of bank share sales. The National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, has advised that at the end of 2024, the directed portfolio had a value of €7.7 billion, composed of or…

I appreciate the different political, ideological or policy positions on bank ownership. It is legitimate for people to hold different views on these subjects. The stated intention of the Government, and I think successive Governments, was to seek to return those banks to private ownership and to seek to recoup the money that the taxpayer had put into those banks, namely, AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB. That objective was largely fulfilled. I do not think the State should be in the business of owning banks. We all k…

The Comptroller and Auditor General is welcome to look at anything he wishes to look at. Indeed, it was the Comptroller and Auditor General who put that figure on the record of the Committee of Public Accounts on 14 May and it was a figure for the end of 2024. It was a moment in time and the Government has thankfully been in a position to make a number of decisions about what to do with that resource, including investing in infrastructure such as water, housing and the electricity grid. There is no question of wast…

The ISIF does not disclose the terms of individual investments.

I restate the Government's clear opposition to illegal Israeli settlements, which are contrary to international law and damaging to the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. Ireland has demonstrated its support of the Palestinian people and taken practical steps at national, EU and international levels. On 13 January, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy McEntee, announced that Ireland will provide €42 million in assistance to the people of Palestine in 2026, including €20 million in core funding to su…

I fully accept the Deputy's sincerity on the issue and share much of his sentiment. I pointed out the NTMA Acts and the Deputy acknowledged that. I also acknowledge that the ISIF has taken the investment decision to divest from six companies, all of which remain on the updated UN database, with a value of more than €2.95 million at the time of divestment. While these are decisions for the ISIF to make, some of the companies that operate are large global companies and they may have a very small presence in the occup…

I am not trying to equivocate, though I take the criticism. However, I have a particular legal role as Minister for Finance and I am not in a position to direct the NTMA or the ISIF about this. That is why I am perhaps somewhat precluded, more than other Deputies, from expressing my personal view because the law of the land is clear that these investment decisions must be independent of the views of the Minister for Finance of the day. The NTMA operates a commitment to be a responsible investor as a steward of publ…

I thank Deputy Timmins for raising the matter. Ireland's capital gains tax rate is 33% and is paid on the chargeable capital gain made when a person disposes of an asset. The chargeable gain is usually the difference between the price paid for the asset and the price it is disposed of and is payable by the person making the disposal. Section 556 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides a measure of relief for capital gains, which are attributable purely to inflation, commonly known as indexation relief. The Fin…

I hear the Deputy and I never like to disagree with my constituency colleague, but the point I would make is that we consider all taxation measures as part of the annual budgetary process through the tax strategy group papers and the likes. Being honest with the House, I would be concerned with an indexation for the CGT space when one could make similar arguments or cases for indexation of other taxes that we do not currently do that with either. My biggest priority in terms of a taxation package this year will be …

There is an argument to be had around CGT - on the rates, the reliefs, the exemptions and how it acts as an incentive or otherwise to entrepreneurial activity. I have given views on that, as has the Taoiseach. As is always the case in a budget, all this will come down to balance and priorities as part of the overall tax package. We will have the national economic dialogue in Dublin Castle in June. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I will publish the summer economic statement in July. That will give an indication o…

I thank the Deputy for the question and for her consistent raising of this issue around working families. Programme for Government 2025: Securing Ireland's Future contains specific undertakings with regard to personal taxation. It commits to "implement[ing] progressive changes in taxation if the economy remains strong, including indexing credits and bands to prevent an increase in the real burden of income tax". It also states that "in the event of an economic downturn and unexpected deterioration in the public fin…

I fully agree. We want work to always pay and we want people who work hard to be able to get ahead, not just get by. The tax system is an important part of that. That is why we are committed to delivering a personal income tax package. I will make a point to somewhat balance my comments. While it is absolutely correct that Irish people pay the higher rate of tax at a lower entry point than many other European countries, when you look at the social insurance contributions other countries make, that somewhat adjusts …

I did not realise the Deputy met members of Longford Women's Link today. They are amazing. I visited them in the not-too-distant past and am grateful for the work they do and the opportunities and accessibility they provide to people in a range of areas. I met them in the context of higher education. The commitment in the programme for Government is clear. We want to get childcare to €200 per child per month in the lifetime of the Government. The Deputy is right that fees and the cost to families make up a part of …

I thank the Deputy.

I did not either.