Pearse Doherty

First of all, that is not true. It was not the case. On vulture funds, until last week those people were not able to even go to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, a legal provision that everybody else had until I pointed it out to the Minister and forced that to be changed. The Minister said he would not mind if his mortgage was sold to the vulture funds. He made that statement to try…

5. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance to outline any engagement he has had with the Central Bank on tax incentives and other demand-side measures for housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16504/25]

What engagement has the Minister had with the Central Bank regarding tax incentives and other demand-side measures for housing and will he make a statement on the matter, particularly in light of what appears to be the Governor of the Central Bank pouring cold water on the latest apparently back-of-the-envelope policy on housing from the Minister for housing? It is reported that the Minister, Depu…

We discovered during the election period that many of the Minister's colleagues, maybe himself included, went out and argued that there were going to be 40,000 houses delivered last year, which we know was a big lie because the Department of Finance had provided an assessment to the then Minister before the election that that was not possible. Indeed, there was a risk of fewer being built than in …

Will the Dáil be given some clarity as to the Minister for Finance's position? Does he agree with his Cabinet colleague that banks should lend more to developers on the basis that the developers would have less equity? That is the proposal that has been made. It seems a bit hare-brained and Celtic tiger era, but it is not the first time we have seen something like it. We deserve to know what the …

Does the Minister support the proposal or not?

It is still not clear. Does the Minister support the proposal?

Chuala muid ó Donald Trump aréir go mbeidh sé ag cur taraifí i bhfeidhm ar fud an domhain. Is polasaí gan tuiscint é sin a ndéanfaidh earraí níos costasaí do mhuintir na Stát Aontaithe agus a mbeidh impleachtaí aige sa Stát seo agus ar fud na hEorpa fosta. Last night, we were subjected to US trade aggression. To add insult to injury, we had to watch the US play the victim. Trump talked about pryin…

I understand that the North-South Ministerial Council is awaiting confirmation from the Government. This is important because there will be cross-cutting in terms of agriculture, finance, the economy and jobs. We need the type of all-Ireland approach that we saw during the Brexit negotiations in a very clear and effective way. I agree with the Tánaiste's points about Trump and about the fact that…

I raised the issue of the Raphoe community playgroup a number of times last year. I had commitments from the Minister that funding would be available. The Tánaiste met the group. We were told funding would be available. It applied for the funding it was told to apply for but it has not been granted the funding. It has written to the Tánaiste and he has responded that the council rather than the gr…

It was the Commission's ruling.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 10, to delete lines 16 to 25 and substitute the following: “in respect of each NUTS 3 region— (i) shall, by order, specify— (I) the minimum percentage of the population of the region concerned that ought to be within a radius of 5 kilometres of an ATM accessible 24 hours, (II) the minimum number of ATMs that ought to be available per 100,000 people in the regio…

I have moved amendment No. 4.

Agreed.

Tá.

Thank you. Just for clarification, the Ceann Comhairle declared the question carried. So the amendment has been carried?

I thought it was carried.

Are we sure it was lost?

You know something, I should not have raised anything at all.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 12, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “(7) In the case of any new ATM which enters operation following the commencement of this Act, or any existing ATM in operation whose operating software is updated following commencement of this Act— (a) the option of a full service of equal quality shall be made available to consumers in at least both officia…

I move amendment No. 6: In page 12, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “Report on the acceptance of cash within the Irish economy and to set out a legislative approach to ensuring the broad obligation to accept cash into the future 7. The Minister shall, in recognition of the interrelationship between access to cash and acceptance of cash will within 3 months of the passing of th…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 18, to delete lines 23 to 35 and substitute the following: “(2) The Minister shall, following consultation with the Bank, make regulations to prohibit the charging of an access fee where the withdrawal concerned is from a relevant account.”. This is a simple amendment. The legislation states that the Minister may, following regulations, prohibit the charging of A…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear. Very welcome.

We are all waiting to see what will happen tomorrow with US tariffs. However, we know there are no winners in a trade war and that we should not see a knee-jerk reaction from the EU. At this point, we need cool heads. I was taken aback by what Paschal Donohoe had to say at the weekend when he asserted on RTÉ that Europe has to respond. We will not face down an erratic US Administration by copying …