Simon Harris

As I said at the outset, we must always remain vigilant in this area. I am putting the facts and the law on the record of the House in terms of the obligation on all regulated entities that should be consistent regardless of the entity. Of course if there are any examples - the Deputy has given me one - they should be pursued fully. While I am not getting involved in individual mortgages, I am ver…

I genuinely do not wish to be argumentative about this because the case the Deputy highlighted is clearly one that is causing his constituent or the person who contacted him extreme pain and anguish. However, my genuine belief from my engagement with officials and with the Central Bank - this is a broader point around the enforceability of the protections that are already there - is that the prote…

As the Deputy and people across the country will be aware, the Government has provided significant support to households and businesses to try to help to absorb the worst impact of rising prices on households and businesses over the last four years. Analysis from my Department confirms that lower income households gained the most from measures introduced in budget 2026. The analysis also shows tha…

We did take interventions in the budget to support people. In this Dáil we did not provide energy credits to anybody, but we did take a decision to bring in a range of targeted measures for those most in need. There is a legitimate debate on how best to do that and we have that debate back and forth across the floor. However, we introduced a social protection package of over €1 billion. We increas…

We are not in any sort of bubble. The Deputy may have his political differences with me, but the economists in the Department of Finance stand over the projections. The ESRI and the Central Bank projections, published in December are there for him to see. I have outlined, as was outlined to me, the base effect. We expect inflation to further moderate as the year goes on. The Deputy has a list of t…

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for the question. In replying I want to restate the Government's clear opposition, which is also the clear opposition of this House, to illegal Israeli settlements, which are contrary to international law and damaging to the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. Ireland has not been found wanting in its support of the Palestinian people and has taken practical steps at na…

I have a specific legal role and responsibility. The NTMA, and the ISIF in particular, has complete independence in implementing its investment strategy under the NTMA Act and I am respectful of that. However, I did recently meet with officials from the NTMA and I was assured that ISIF will continue to monitor its holdings. It does not comment on individual investments but I have outlined the view…

I do not in any way doubt the Deputy's bona fides and I fully respect his sincerity. I do not believe that I can go further than I have. I have made it clear that the ISIF has already taken a number of decisions to divest from companies and directly from sovereign bond holdings. It continues to monitor this. The fund's level of exposure in this area is 0.16% and has been declining. The fund contin…

I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this issue. I acknowledge that it is not the first time he has raised it with me, despite my short time in this current role. I acknowledge the presence of this issue in the programme for Government. This question provides me with an opportunity to outline the significant investment that the Government has made in this area. The Government has now invested well ove…

I instinctively agree. I do not mean to be pedantic but the programme for Government says we will consider measures. I take very seriously the programme for Government and we should continue to consider these measures as well. We had it looked at last year in the tax strategy group paper, which is published. The paper said it was not possible to estimate the exact cost of an income tax relief. It …

That hurt.

I had to be very disciplined in this role in relation to tax and tax commitments in the advance of the last budget and in advance of the next budget, given that it is the month of February. We will consider all of these matters and the compelling cases that are made. The tax strategy group paper is worth reading in relation to this. After reading and considering it, I wonder whether there could be…

I am aware of the group that is doing very good advocacy work on this issue. I look forward to meeting and engaging with it shortly. Capital acquisitions tax, CAT, applies to both gifts and inheritances and is charged at a rate of 33%. For CAT purposes, the relationship between the person giving a gift or inheritance and the person who receives it determines the maximum amount, known as the group…

I am, as Deputy Callaghan will know, very aware of the burden that capital taxation places on people, and it is our party's position as well. Whether it is families or farmers, the burden of capital taxation is real. That is why in budget 2025 we as a Government took a decision to increase the thresholds. We increased threshold A, B and C. I certainly do not rule out over the lifetime of this Gove…

Gabhaim buíochas le Deputies Butterly, Brennan and Callaghan. It is really good that we tease through and discuss this issue. We have various views on this and different parties have different commitments in their manifestos in relation to this. We have a programme for Government now. We need to work our way through all of this. I have to be honest with the House. Every year over the next four bud…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 175 together. I thank Deputies Ó Muirí and Neville for their questions. The starting point for this conversation has to be that we live in a country where we have a high level of savings on deposits and we need to support people who are seeking greater returns on their hard-earned savings. Work is continuing on the development of a roadmap for the taxation…

First, as we are not talking about this weather situation, we are not looking back; we are talking about here and now. I am conscious as we discuss this in the House today that a status orange weather warning is currently in place for counties Dublin, Wicklow, Waterford and now also County Louth. Yellow warnings are in place for nine other counties as well. On top of that, the Road Safety Authorit…

That is a disgraceful comment.

That is a disgraceful comment.

I hope I will get the same latitude. Deputy Doherty just cannot help himself. Flood warnings are in place in Northern Ireland. If, God forbid, anywhere floods in Northern Ireland, I am not going to blame Michelle O'Neill, because this is not about party politics or partisan politics. This is about acting. If the Deputy wants to say that me doing my job, coming into this House and amplifying, as we…

Leave the bully boy antics out of the Chamber today and just for once take off the party jersey. If you are suggesting that amplifying, as we have been asked to do by the RSA, the fact that people should be careful on the roads today and avoid driving-----

If you are suggesting that the glib weather forecast-----

People are watching this today and it is extremely important to get the facts out.

I do not care about engaging with Deputy Doherty but the people who are-----

Please, Deputy. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. A bit of decorum would be great. People are looking at this today and want to know what is going to happen, and I want to tell them. There will be an increased focus on allowing local authorities to fast-track more works that can be done in the here and now. There are already examples, with 900 that have been delivered. Flood relief s…