There is lots you could do.

I thank both Deputy Brennan and the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach for their engagement on this matter. The revised general scheme of the finance (tax appeals and fiscal responsibility) Bill was published in November of last year. Head 5 of the general scheme concerns necessary amendments arising from the 2021 Supreme Court judgment. In this case, the Supreme Court held that the fact that all hearings before an adjudication officer were not he…

The position as of now is that we have been endeavouring to comply with the Supreme Court judgment. Following that judgment, the view from the Office of the Attorney General was that there were proposals that we needed to make changes to the tax appeal system, specifically around the request for appeals to be held in private as well as the determination of appeals in the absence of a hearing. It is important that there are clear safeguards in place and clear grounds that an appeals commissioner must take account of…

Obviously, making sure Ireland remains a competitive location for foreign direct investment, FDI, is an important consideration. I will reflect further on that on foot of the Deputy raising it. In looking at what other parts of the world do, we see that Canada, England and Australia operate in a similar environment to what the current legislation, as currently drafted, proposes for our tax appeals system. New Zealand is an exception where tax appeals are not open to the public. Across the EU, there is a significant…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 236 and 298 together. I thank the Deputy very much. The EU VAT directive, which Irish VAT law must comply with, generally holds that all goods and services are liable for VAT at the standard rate which must be set at a minimum of 15%. If a good or service is listed under Annex III of the VAT directive, a reduced or zero VAT rate may be applied. It is important to note that Ireland applies more reduced and zero rates than every other member state. Some member states prefer not to int…

We have not formally made a request in relation to zero percent VAT. The reason we have not is that my genuine feedback from engagement with the European Commission is that it is unlikely to have unanimous support. I am not against formally seeking further discretion on VAT but we have tried to target our asks to areas that we hoped we could make progress on, including seeking a temporary derogation from the minimum rate of taxation applied to auto diesel because the Deputy has been asking me to go further on diese…

I try to be constructive.

That is not fair.

That is not true.

People expect more from an opposition. At a time of a national crisis when a Minister stands up and is trying to constructively engage, the Deputy just wants to give me the lines to take back. I explained to the Deputy very clearly. I said we are happy to go back and further engage with Commission. Hang on for a second.

Just for a second, Deputy. Our Taoiseach - yours and mine and the Taoiseach of this country - will engage with his European counterparts when he attends an informal meeting of the European Council. Up for discussion at that meeting will be what more measures can we take. Ireland will make its position clear. The priority of my Department has to be to ask for things that individual member states can seek. Individual member states can seek a derogation under the energy tax directive. Individual member states cannot s…

It is not about asking the Commission. It is not a member state. When we have engagements at the likes of the European Council, which the Taoiseach will have, it is about establishing whether there is unanimity. I am giving the Deputy an honest view in this House that I do not believe that unanimity is there. Do not give me the palaver about ivory towers here. This is about truthful debate. The Deputy asked about energy credits. I did not rule them out. I gave other views in relation to solar panels, retrofitting a…

I talked about €750 million package. Just because I do not agree with every position the Deputy adopts or because I point out legal and technical difficulties around them does not mean the Deputy cares and I do not. It just means I am being honest.

I thank Deputy Nash very much. The starting point here, on which many of us agree, is that Ireland does not have a sufficiently diversified savings and investment culture. I am quite conscious that we are having this conversation against the backdrop of significant economic challenges for people right now. I fully get that. However, even against that backdrop, I am also quite conscious that there is a lot of money on deposit in Ireland today. Even this week people are putting relatively small amounts of money aside…

I thank Deputy Nash for his comment on the deemed disposal rule. I agree that there is, rightly, a lot of debate in this House about the rate of it. He made the broader point about the purpose it serves - or does not serve - any more. We need to have a substantive examination of what the policy intent was and if it is still valid today. The truth is that I do not believe it is. How do we unwind that? Can we do it in one go - just take a number - and what is the roadmap? We need to come back and have a conversation …

Yes, there has been very helpful engagement with the Central Bank. We held the savings and investment forum in the Central Bank. The Governor of the Central Bank opened the meeting, which was very useful. We want to take the feedback from that. The point about the tax forgone is something I am very conscious of. I do not have that information yet but once I have it, I will be very happy to share it at an early stage with Deputy Nash and with the House. Deputy Nash and I were in government together. I remember in my…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 238 and 245 together. I thank Deputies Boland and Brennan very much for raising this matter. Their questions relate to the rules governing the taxation of indirect investments such as investment funds and life assurance products. As referenced by Deputy Boland, chapter 7 of the funds review focuses on enabling and encouraging retail investment. It does make a number of recommendations including the removal of the deemed disposal rule. Deputy Brennan reminds us of our programme for G…

The short answer is "Yes" and the next word is "but". Yes, I see the policy challenge here. I do not like a situation where the world has evolved and policy has not caught up. Therefore, I would like to see an overhaul in this area. I am quite committed to that and to reforming retail investment. The only reason I say "but" is in relation to the near-term aspect. No matter what question anyone asks me on tax, I do not want to tie our hands, as a collective government or Oireachtas, in terms of decisions we may make…

I would put it in a slightly different way, but I agree with the broader point. Given our country's huge success in financial services, the considerable revenue, jobs and prosperity this has resulted in and the fact that we have in many ways become a global hub for financial services, there is an irony in our being a major global financial services centre when, at the same time, we have locked so many of our citizens out of meaningful participation. "Ironic" is probably the diplomatic word. We have to challenge our…

I thank Deputy Murphy for this question. As somebody who would like to see a united Ireland in my lifetime and as somebody who is proud to lead a party that has "the United Ireland party" in its full title, I very much welcome the question. I want to engage constructively with Members across the House on this. The Government of Ireland is committed to the unity of the Irish people. We are committed to that with a focus on reconciliation and developing the three sets of relationships recognised in the Good Friday Ag…