Questions

212. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department has carried out or commissioned any assessment of the effect of euro area monetary policy since 2015, including the ECB's asset purchase programmes and the subsequent tightening of interest rates, on Irish house prices, rents and the general cost-of-living; if so, the findings of such assessment; if not, the reason; and if he will m…

373. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the Revenue Commissioners assessment of the proportion of the illicit cigarette and roll your own tobacco market intercepted through seizures given the estimated Exchequer loss of €648 million on illegal cigarettes and €110 million on illegal roll your own tobacco in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73683/26]

374. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of individual cigarette and tobacco seizures made by each frontier management branch in each of the years 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73682/26]

375. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the reasons loose tobacco seizures by the Revenue Commissioners fell from 39,407kg in 2024 and 23,673kg in 2025 to 1,692kg to the end of September 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73681/26]

376. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of whole-time equivalent Revenue customs officers, detector dogs and items of scanning equipment, including X-ray and backscatter units, assigned to each frontier management branch in each of the years 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73680/26]

377. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 70322/26, the reasons cigarette seizures by south FMB fell from 16.1 million in 2024 to 0.8 million in 2025 and 0.7 million to the end of September 2026, and seizures by east-west FMB fell from 33.9 million in 2024 to 6.1 million in 2025; whether these falls reflect changes in staffing, scanning equipment, detect…

378. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of seizures, quantity and value of cigarettes and tobacco seized, and the estimated loss to the Exchequer, at the Port of Cork including Ringaskiddy and Cork Airport, respectively, in each of the years 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73678/26]

379. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the ports, airports and other points of entry covered by each of Revenue's frontier management branches, namely, FMB Dublin Port, FMB Dublin Airport, south-east FMB, south FMB and east-west FMB; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73676/26]

387. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of help to buy clawback cases raised in each of the years 2022 to 2025 and to date in 2026; the total amount sought; the total amount recovered; the number of those cases in which the claimant had ceased to be resident in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73828/26]

388. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the most recent evaluation carried out by or for the Department on the effect of the help to buy scheme on the price of new homes; the date of that evaluation; whether it has been published; whether any evaluation was carried out before the decision to increase the maximum relief to €35,000 in budget 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matte…

389. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance whether, in preparing the budget 2027 increase in the maximum help to buy relief, from €30,000 to €35,000, any consideration was given to a minimum period of tax residence in the State, or a requirement to hold citizenship or long-term residence, as a condition of eligibility; whether this was examined in any tax strategy group paper or other departm…

390. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance whether the Revenue Commissioners or the Department hold, or have at any time compiled, data on the nationality, citizenship or immigration permission of help to buy claimants; if not, whether any data matching with the Department of Social Protection or the immigration service delivery function of the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migratio…

391. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of help to buy claims approved in each of the years 2022 to 2025 and to date in 2026, and the total value of those claims, broken down by the number of years in the four-year period preceding the year of application in which the claimant, or each claimant, in the case of joint claims, had paid income tax in the State, that is one, two, thr…

395. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department has examined, at any time since 2016, the introduction of a tax relief or housing support for former residents returning to live and work in the State after a period abroad; if legal advice has been obtained on the compatibility with EU law of such a measure (details supplied); if he will examine such a measure in the context of ski…

396. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department has assessed the extent to which the limitation of help-to-buy relief to income tax and DIRT paid in the State in the four years preceding the year of application reduces or removes eligibility for former residents who have recently returned to the State after a period of employment abroad; whether any data is held on the number of …

403. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance whether an insurer is required to tell a customer the basis on which their property has been classified as at risk of flooding; whether any process exists for a homeowner with no recorded flood history to have that classification reviewed; and, if not, whether he will consider requiring one. [74058/26]

404. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance whether the remit of the new Flood Insurance Working Group includes examining the practice of insurers declining to offer any home or contents cover, or offering cover with flood excluded, to properties assessed as at risk of flooding; and, if not, whether he will extend the remit to do so. [74054/26]

405. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance whether he is aware that some homeowners and tenants in areas classed as at risk of flooding report being unable to obtain any home or contents insurance, including cover for fire and theft, and not only flood cover; and whether his department or the Central Bank holds data on the number of such refusals. [74053/26]

406. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance whether the Department has assessed the share of new build homes purchased in each of the years 2023 to 2025 by first-time buyers who had been resident in the State for fewer than five years; whether any such analysis has informed the Department's position on the extension and increase of the help to buy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the…

183. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department has assessed the distributional impact of LPT according to household composition, including households with dependent children and households without dependent children; and if consideration has been given to incorporating household composition or ability to pay into the calculation of LPT liability. [71916/26]

197. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department will publish a time bound pathway for the phasing out of the eight year deemed disposal regime for investment funds and ETFs, including a commencement date and defined milestones; whether the Government remains committed to full abolition within its current term, in line with the recommendation of the Funds Sector 2030 Review; and i…

198. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of discretionary trusts claiming exemption from initial and annual discretionary trust tax on the basis that the principal objects include a permanently incapacitated individual, in each of the years 2020 to 2025; the number of trusts claiming relief under section 189A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 in the same period; if the Departme…

199. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of capital acquisitions tax returns made by beneficiaries who are permanently incapacitated, in each of the years 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; the total tax paid by such beneficiaries in each of those years; if the Revenue Commissioners record whether a beneficiary has a permanent disability; if not, the reason; and if he will make a …

200. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to introducing a specific capital acquisitions tax exemption, or a separate and higher group A threshold, for a child who is permanently incapacitated by reason of physical or mental disability and who receives a gift or inheritance from a parent; if his Department has costed such a measure; if so, the estimated annual…

201. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he has considered amending section 626B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to align the Substantial Shareholding Exemption with the Dividend Participation Exemption introduced in Finance Act 2024; the estimated cost of such an amendment; the reason it was not included in Budget 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72309/26]