Simon Harris

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 ca…

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 De…

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 …

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 th…

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 i…

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 numb…

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 ask…

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 …

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 committ…

I welcome this rare moment of unity. It is really good. We all have different political traditions that we can debate and that is fine, but Deputy Conway-Walsh would like to see a united Ireland in her lifetime and I would like to see a united Ireland in my lifetime. I agree that the shared island unit is doing good work - really good work. I notice that across the community, as I am sure Deputy C…

We clearly need to have a longer debate in this House and the Whips and others should work out a way to faciliate this discussion. We should not fear it because, as Deputy Michael Murphy said, it is about information, facts, getting as much information as possible and identifying where there are information gaps. My Department published "Shared Island, Shared Economy" in 2024, which examined the …

The Presidency is taking place in a few short months’ time, as the Deputy said, so I thank him for highlighting this. The Presidency of the Council of the EU is a critical focus for all of us in government, the Oireachtas and my Department this year. It represents an important opportunity for our country to shape European policy priorities, including the EU’s economic and financial agenda. I am p…

It is a key question, and one the Government has been considering. We took a decision earlier this year, during my time as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, to outline Ireland's MFF budgetary priorities much earlier in the cycle for that very reason. The Deputy is right. When you take up the Presidency, there is an advantage to that, of course, and it is an influential and important position…

I think it is doable but it is extremely ambitious. For the Council of the European Union to reach an agreement at a relatively early stage, in other words, by the end of this year, provides a degree of certainty in a world that is craving certainty. There is a real premium on trying to reach agreement because there is so much uncertainty in the world right now. It is not inevitable that that will…

As the Deputy knows, the Government is committed to balanced regional development and supporting rural communities, as outlined in the programme for Government. Regarding fiscal supports, a range of tax-based enterprise supports are available to businesses and enterprises across the country, in particular SMEs. These incentives complement more regionally specific direct expenditure measures and sc…

Personally, I am very positively disposed to that once it is a matter for the local authority. As the Deputy rightly said, I am a big believer in empowering local democracy. If you run in your community and get elected by your community, you should have real powers. A revenue-raising power is one. If you happen to be a member of Galway or Dublin City Councils - they are two examples - and you say,…

I am very much up to the idea. Generally, people come to this House and come up with ideas on how to spend money. It is refreshing to have people come into this House and come up with ideas on how to generate money. A tourism tax or levy at the very least merits consideration. I say "tax or levy" because they are obviously very different. A levy is something that may not necessarily involve my Dep…

I join with the Deputy in extending sympathies to the family, friends and community of Moya Brennan. She was a musical icon, a unique voice of extraordinary talent and somebody who played no small part in bringing Irish music to an international audience. May she rest in peace. I thank the Deputy for the question. This has been a very challenging period of time for the people of this country. The…

It matters.

No, it is quite the opposite, in fact. People are living through very tough and very challenging times but Deputy Doherty has got to be honest with that person who wrote to him as well. The Deputy can talk about waving graphs, but facts matter. I had Sinn Féin's measures assessed by officials in my Department, and they came back and said it was not doable.

Hang on a second. May I speak, please? Thank you. Revenue does not hold records of individual end users when it comes to home heating oil. If we did what Sinn Féin proposes, and I am accepting-----

You are.

With regard to a proposed amendment for solid fuel carbon tax, the Sinn Féin amendment proposed reverting to 2023 rates and backdating the reversal to 1 May 2023.

I am going to write to the Deputy and explain to him the practical challenges with the Sinn Féin's measures. There are practical challenges.