Pearse Doherty

I hear what the Minister is saying regarding tapering, but that can be translated into different language. It means that, for individuals, they will see their tax increase in 2027, 2028 and 2029. It will continue to go up because the OMV will basically increase each of those years because the offset is being reduced. It also applies to carbon-neutral cars, which means we are going to tax individua…

I move amendment No. 18: In page 35, to delete lines 10 to 13, and substitute the following: “ “(B) €10,000 for each of the years of assessment 2023 to 2028 (both years inclusive)”,”.

I move amendment No. 19: In page 35, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “Report on costs of increasing standard fund threshold to €2,800,000 25. The Minister shall, within one month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the costs of increasing the standard fund threshold to €2,800,000 taking account of behavioural change, clearly outlining th…

The Minister reached for public sector workers in relation to this massive tax break. A figure of €320,000 is unheard of. When you think about it, most people in the country do not earn anywhere near that and this is a tax break worth €320,000 to a really wealthy individual. It is unbelievable. The de Buitléir report, which the Minister may have had a chance to read-----

-----actually dealt with how we deal with public sector pensions, especially the issues with members of the Garda and fast-accruing pensions. The way he suggested doing that was to change the valuation rate for defined pensions. That is not what the Government has done, so do not be going into the box and saying this is about gardaí and all the rest and public sector pensions. If the Government wa…

The Minister did not have to bring forward other amendments in respect of the SFT. The Government has legislated for it to increase every year. That is why people are getting this €320,000 tax cut from Fine Gael. I must have missed that promise the Minister made. Which plinth was he standing on? During which press occasion during the general election campaign did he tell people he would provide a …

It was legislated for in the Finance Bill just before the election, during the campaigning. That was a promise the Minister did not even make, but it is one he kept. He broke all of his promises to ordinary people. I will press the amendment.

I move amendment No. 21: In page 43, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: “Report on policy objectives and financial safeguards for Living Cities Initiative 30.The Minister shall, within 1 month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on policy objectives and the financial safeguards that are in place given the scale of the reform and expansion of t…

I will leave it at that.

I raised this issue earlier. We have later amendments in relation to the reduced VAT rate on apartments that have been ruled out of order. This amendment from Deputy O'Callaghan deals with the tax reliefs that have been brought in by the Government for property developers. The former Minister made the claim at the start of the debate on this Bill that this measure was designed to reduce the cost …

No, we did not.

Do you want a shovel?

I will. I will make the point, first of all, that I am not sure whether the Tánaiste withdraws the fact that it is about affordability, or does he agree with his predecessor that it is actually about so-called viability?

Okay, but you cannot have it both ways. You cannot make it up as you are going along, in fairness. It is too big an issue.

The Tánaiste did not address the fact that these companies are making huge profits in the first instance. I challenge the Tánaiste on this because he gave the impression in his comments that I was misrepresenting the promises he made to the electorate. In his response, will he explain? Did he not make the promise to reduce tax each year to workers? Did he not make the promise to provide a roadmap …

The Tánaiste introduced this subject.

You did.

You introduced the subject that you did not make these promises. He introduced the subject.

I just wanted to remind the Tánaiste of the commitments he made-----

-----to the public that he is breaking, and the commitment he never made to developers, at least in public, that the Government was going to stuff hundreds of millions of euro into their pockets through a reduced VAT rate.

The Tánaiste did not answer the question from Deputy Gould-----

-----in relation to whether he believes that the 17,000 or 18,000 apartments that are being built are actually viable. If so, then why has the Government decided to provide hundreds of millions of euro into the pockets of developers for valuable apartments?

I move amendment No. 26: In page 86, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following: “Report on taxation of bailed-out banks 50.The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the amount of tax revenue lost as a result of bailed-out banks facing no restriction on their ability to off-set corporation taxes using historic losses re…

I intend to press this amendment. I do not dispute the history the Tánaiste outlined. The issue of capitalisation of the banks or the State having to provide additional capital, which was the excuse used at the time, does not pertain any more. The paper he referenced is a number of years old. The idea in it was about dividends to the State as a result of our shareholding and also recognising asset…

That is the most ridiculous comment. I presume the Tánaiste was handed it in good faith but it was obviously provided by bankers or people sympathetic to them.