That is a fair point. Truthfully, I do not know whether Revenue went out and marketed the scheme previously. From my recollection, it is generally the local authorities that promote the scheme and obviously the Revenue Commissioners that administer the scheme.
On the Deputy's broader point as to whether we should have roadshows or workshops, absolutely we should. On foot of the Deputy raising this here this evening,…
TDs / Simon Harris
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
566,209
words spoken in the chamber
566,201 as a minister, 8 as a TD
140
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From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
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Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 2,972 in all
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| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 4 |
| January 2025 | 4 |
| February 2025 | 255 |
| March 2025 | 42 |
| April 2025 | 83 |
| May 2025 | 249 |
| June 2025 | 175 |
| July 2025 | 144 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
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| March 2026 | 187 |
| April 2026 | 226 |
| May 2026 | 119 |
| June 2026 | 127 |
| July 2026 | 93 |
| August 2026 | 2 |
| September 2026 | 83 |
| October 2026 | 53 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 2,685 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Wicklow 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 29 November 2024 to 22 January 2025
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Defence 23 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs 23 January 2025 to 25 March 2025
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 26 March 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Defence 26 March 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Finance 18 November 2025 to now
As I say, I am positively disposed to that. We passed a law in this House to make this living city initiative available to five more regional towns, including places such as Drogheda and Dundalk. We all want to see it succeed now.
We have tried to show flexibility as a Department and as a Government in terms of enhancing the scheme. In the previous Finance Act, there were a number of enhancements. First, the scheme …
The European Union does not work in the manner in which the Deputy described. It is not about forcing anybody's hand. We are members of the European Union. The Deputy's party did not support joining the European Union, but we are members of it and sit round the table and make decisions together. It clearly makes sense in a single market that if you are introducing a taxation system around energy, you would endeavour …
I fully accept that it is the very clear position of the Government that if we were to act on windfall taxation, we would do it at an EU level because of the interconnectedness of the EU market. That is the position of the Government. This week, Deputy Doherty wants to fund the new measures he would like to do outside of a budget with a windfall tax.
The transcript of the Dáil will show-----
Let me speak, Pearse. Come on.
The angry routine is not working. Just let me speak. I thank the Deputy. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. The transcript will show that Deputy Doherty talked about bringing in a windfall tax measure that could help to provide supports families and businesses.
This is my time. I am allowed to speak. I might be allowed to suggest the Deputy might tell me what the purpose of it is if he does not believe it is for that. Last week, he wanted us to use the surplus. The point is we have put in place one of the largest energy support packages in the European Union. We are working at an EU level because a co-ordinated approach matters. Being isolated and not working at a European …
He just used all of my time.
I do not have a script.
That is the problem.
It is also important to note, as the Deputy referenced the last time, that when the temporary solidarity contribution was brought in, and this is already facing multiple legal challenges in the Court of Justice of the European Union, the actors questioned the legality of the measures and the actors questioned the retroactive elements of the measure. Claimants are arguing that the EU incorrectly adopted the levy under…
I thank the Deputy for this important question. A number of tax incentives that are in place are intended to encourage investment in indigenous businesses, particularly in our small and medium enterprises. These measures include the employment investment incentive, the research and development tax credit, the start-up capital investment and the relief for investment in innovative enterprises, also known as angel inve…
I thank the Deputy. He said he wanted to put something on the record of the Dáil so let me do that as well. While the Deputy is right that we should always be cautious about our economy and never take economic stability or growth for granted - sometimes that seems to be the case in our discourse - I contend that the country has structurally learned a lot of lessons in terms of plans and actions from the crash. That r…
That is right; we need to take it deadly seriously. I do not mean this about Deputy O'Connor but about me. I always think that speaking with great authority on something that is fast evolving is challenging because we are all learning about this in real time. That is not an excuse or a reason not to take it extremely seriously because the countries that work out how best to respond to this are the countries that will…
I thank an Teachta O’Callaghan very much for the question. I have read the report of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform, and Digitalisation and it has also been reviewed by my officials. It was published last August. It sets out 15 recommendations, some directed to the Central Bank of Ireland and others to the Government.
Chief among the recommendations made is that the Governm…
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…
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…
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 ent…
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…
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 activ…
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, ha…
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…
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 inves…
The ISIF does not disclose the terms of individual investments.