Simon Harris
Wicklow · Fine Gael · Ireland
“There are more than 10,000 routes and thousands of buses involved and the number of students using the services is not a million miles away from 200,000. The current terms of the scheme are going to continue to apply for the 2026-27 school year.”
“I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is genuinely an important issue. I do take the point that when we talk about this in the abstract or from a process point of view in here, that for people watching this is their real lived experience.”
“There number of children who have been supported by means of the school transport scheme, as Deputy Fitzmaurice knows and has alluded to, has grown significantly in recent years. Since 2018, the number increased from 120,000 in 2018 to more than 181,000 now. Included in that figure are 24,000 pupils with special educational needs.”
“I knew the Deputy would have to mention the GAA, especially with Galway and Limerick playing at the weekend. I wish everybody involved the best of luck. We are very committed to the school transport scheme. If the Deputy wants to see our commitment, he should look to our budget.”
“An ageing population, increasing healthcare needs, the transition to net zero and the need for continued investment in housing, energy and infrastructure will place a significant demand on public resources.”
“There is also a legitimacy to the point the Deputy made about how it is a legitimate form of transport for some people. We see this working in other European countries. We see it in our nearest neighbours. I do not want to get the regime wrong, but I think they have registration at the point of purchase that allows people to track this.”
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“I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this very important issue. I will begin where he began by absolutely acknowledging that the priority in all of our discussions, and I know this is something we all share a view on, must be, is and must remain the children and their parents. Deputy O'Callaghan did not do so, but it is often easy to talk about reports and everything else in this House. We are talking about children and worried parents, and they should be our priority. I agree with Deputy O'Callaghan on that. I heard the Deputy's party colleague Deputy Rice on the radio this morning. Deputy Rice does a very good job chairing the Oireachtas health committee. I assure him and Deputy O'Callaghan that the Government wants to see as much information as possible published, and certainly shared with parents.”
“Then, people go back to their constituencies and hear landlords saying that, hang on a second, this is actually introducing it to be a protection for tenants that poses a challenge for them. In a housing emergency, there is no perfect set of policy measures, but we do have to use a whole range of levers to try to get housing supply going. That is what we are doing. There are encouraging signs that some of the decisions we took in the budget, some of which were vehemently opposed by the other side of this House, are having a positive effect. Forget about industry and forget about developers. We are hearing that now from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, which is talking about the viability of apartments. We keep working on this every day.”
“I did acknowledge it. I acknowledged during the election campaign and in the potential programme for Government talks after the election that the Labour Party had put forward constructive proposals. I do acknowledge that. We have a different landing zone, in that I think the Labour Party wanted a new State agency. I am not trying to misrepresent its position, but our view was to evolve the Land Development Agency. I think the Labour Party had a different proposal. I acknowledge that there was constructive engagement. I am not taking from that. We do have to take measures when it comes to supply, however. I say this respectfully. The Deputy made a point about landlords in her constituency. This is a point I am making. Sometimes, we come into the Dáil and we are told by the Opposition that we are taking all these measures to help landlords.”
“In relation to HAP, the Deputy has acknowledged that we are reviewing the limits. That review will be completed in the first half of this year. I acknowledge and thank my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Burke, for his work on that. In relation to short-term lets, we have to have the register up and running by 20 May. We did want to get this right, though. This is a balance, and I am sure some of the Deputy's colleagues from places outside of Dublin, respectfully, or outside the greater Dublin area, would make this point too. We do not want to have an unintended consequence where there are areas that really rely on short-term lets for the tourism sector as well. It is about making sure that the juice is worth the squeeze in terms of getting extra homes back into rental. We thought 20,000 was a good balance in relation to that.”
“In fairness, the Deputy's party put forward ideas around how it would have liked to see that evolve. We have tried to expand its role as well. We now have one of the strongest rates of home completions in the European Union, with 5.9 homes being completed per 1,000. The EU average is 3.3. The Deputy referenced that constituent or person who contacted her. I do not in any way dispute that there is a housing emergency in this country. I do not in any way dispute that the challenge is really acute for people. However, I also know that the remedy to that challenge is more supply. It is building more homes. There are two specific recommendations the Deputy touched on regarding HAP and short-term lets. In our housing plan, we have committed to acting on both of them this year.”
“We have really brought in a very strong tenant protection regime in Ireland, and that is acknowledged by people working in this sector and people working in homeless organisations too. We have to balance that alongside recognising that we can have all the rental protections in the world, but we also need places to rent. This Government is getting criticised in both directions and that is usually a sign that we are probably trying to get the balance right here. What we are also doing is trying to stimulate supply because otherwise, it is an academic conversation. We need more homes for people to rent. Yes, many of those homes will be built with money from this State and direct money to local authorities, but also with money through agencies of my own Department, such as the Land Development Agency, LDA.”
“If she looks at Dublin Simon Community's comments - and I am not suggesting that the Dublin Simon Community is supportive of all aspects of the Bill; it is certainly not - it did acknowledge a number of positive aspects of the Bill, on which I would hope we could see acknowledgement across this House, including the expansion of the rent pressure zones on a nationwide basis. That is something I am not sure the Deputy would have predicted this Government was going to do. It is probably something lots of people in opposition called for us to do, and we did. As a result, there are counties that did not have rental protections in place that now do, including County Donegal and other places as well.”
“I thank Deputy Bacik very much. I take the point about having enough time in the Oireachtas to tease through things. I would also balance that point with the fact that there is a housing emergency and every day matters. Every day we do not take a decision is a day where progress is not being made at enough speed or enough pace in relation to housing supply. We have been very clear as a Government for quite a sustained period of time as to the changes we wanted to make in relation to the rental market. I do not think, and the Deputy would expect me to say this, that her analysis of the Bill we have put before this House, and which has passed this House, is balanced.”
“Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson described HAP as a chronic waste of money. That was Sinn Féin's position. We are trying to actually review it and make sure it works. When it comes to Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald comes into the Dáil and speaks of a housing emergency and then goes back to Cabra where it is a housing objection. That is hypocrisy.”
“I have told the House quite clearly what we are going to do. We brought in a higher rate of stamp duty. We increased it further. We are seeing the number fall. We brought in specific planning guidelines that are having a very significant effect. We are now seeing more homes actually being sold than bought up by institutional investors. That is a very significant change. We gave a commitment, we acted on the commitment, and we are seeing the benefit of that policy now. It is important, though, that we discuss these issues in relation to housing. It is important that we discuss the issues in relation to HAP. However, it is also important that we are not hypocritical. We are having a discussion today about the housing assistance payments. That was the starting point the Deputy made with the Simon Communities report.”
“That saw the number of homes being bulk bought fall in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and we expect it to fall now. Another fact the Deputy did not mention, but that he should mention because I did put these figures on the record of the House the other night, is that we now see institutional investors selling more homes than they are buying in Ireland. There is a need for all of the facts to be looked at. We need private investment. We took action in relation to bulk buying. We took further action in relation to bulk buying, and we are now seeing more homes being sold than bought up by that sector.”
“It is really important; the State cannot do it all. In fact, the State is investing way more than most European countries in housing, but we do need to also attract in private investment. There may be a policy difference with us on that. I do not know, but there may be. However, the Housing Commission report, and not you or me, recognises the importance of it. When it comes to bulk buying, and we did discuss this the other night, we have acted. We introduced a higher rate of stamp duty. When I was Taoiseach in the period of time the Deputy referenced, I acknowledged and said clearly that the extra rate we brought in, the 10% rate, was not high enough in my view. I worked closely with the then Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, and the Government and we increased that rate of stamp duty by 50%.”
“There are some encouraging signs, which I am not surprised the Deputy did not mention, when it comes to housing supply. Last year, we saw almost 100 homes built every single day, an increase in our housing figures by more than 20% on the previous year. We saw commencements of new homes in December double on what they were in November. We see 600 people buying their first-time home every single week. We will have social housing figures shortly, but I believe those will also show progress. The Deputy referenced institutional investors. The Deputy and many people, on all sides of this House, often talk about the Housing Commission report. It is important we do not pick and choose which bits of the report we want to talk about. The Housing Commission report itself says we must see private investment in our housing market.”
“That is a commitment the Government has given because we believe HAP can make a difference to people and we believe it is making a difference to people. I am pleased to see that already, when we look at people who have been on HAP and at their journey to longer-term accommodation and a more permanent housing solution, there are encouraging signs, with 37% of exits from the HAP scheme now being to other forms of social housing. The point in relation to needing to review HAP and the HAP limits is something this Government concurs with. It is something we are acting on and we will have that work concluded in the first half of this year. My second point in relation to HAP and supply more generally is that we have to keep on increasing supply.”
“First, in relation to the housing assistance payment and the Dublin Simon Community report that the Deputy referenced, I thank the Dublin Simon Community for the work it does. I thank it for the recognition in its commentary in relation to the tenancy protections we are putting in place in the legislation that passed in this House last night and now goes to the Seanad today. I thank it for the work it is doing, including in this capital city with the opening of its new facility this week to help people in relation to addiction and homelessness. I also want to acknowledge that when it comes to housing assistance and the housing assistance payment, we do intend, in line with our housing plan, to review the HAP limits and to have that completed within the first half of this year.”
“While it is complex from a taxation point of view, we need to get it right. Detailed consideration will be given to ensure any changes in this area achieve an appropriate balance between supporting retail investment and maintaining appropriate anti-avoidance protections. If we get it right, it can be a democratisation of wealth in many ways, where the squeezed middle can start participating in a savings and investment account structure that gives them a much greater return than what they are saving in a deposit account.”
“The Government and I are very clear: retail investment needs to be encouraged. It is set out in the programme for Government. It is consistent with our work at an EU level on the savings and investment union, in which I expect us to take a leadership role during our Presidency of the EU Council as well. There is a complexity to all of this in how we tax ETFs, the rate of exit tax and the application of deemed disposal, and we need to work our way through this. An ETF is an investment fund that is traded in a regulated stock exchange. There is no separate taxation regime specifically for ETFs. ETFs, being collective investment funds, generally come within the regimes set out in the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 for such funds. I look forward to and want to engage with Deputies Ó Muirí and Neville on this.”
“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 of retail investment. We announced in budget 2026 that this work was under way. I expect to receive proposals shortly and I hope to be in a position then to bring this roadmap to Government. It will set out an approach to simplify and adapt the tax framework to further support retail investment while obtaining the necessary and important anti-avoidance protections in a proportionate manner.”
“That is why I am committing to keeping capital taxation and the burden of capital taxation under review. To help the conversation perhaps, I will put some figures on the record. If we were to increase, for example, the group A thresholds to €500,000 from the existing €400,000, the cost of that is €86.6 million. If we were to bring everyone on threshold B into threshold A, in other words, up to €400,000, the cost of that is around €305 million. These are all budget ready reckoners as opposed to my views. Of course, there are costs associated with all of these but I take that point about families changing, care changing and the empowerment of individuals, and I will give further consideration to this in the time ahead.”
“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 budgets there will be a pot and resource, subject to the economy continuing to be run well, that will be available for tax decisions, and there will be competing demands and views as to what best to do. There is personal income tax, capital tax and a whole variety of different issues. We will tease our way through that. However, over the course of those four budgets, we can achieve quite a lot together too.”
“That is why I want to meet the advocacy groups and ask the tax strategy group to continue to consider all of these issues in advance of the budget.”
“It is again not a reason why we do or do not do these things; it is just something we all need to consider in the context of the budget. Third, we should continue to look at what other countries are doing in this area and international comparisons because I am sure other countries are grappling with this issue. Finally, I take the point that there can sometimes be relatives who also have a caring role, perhaps a nephew or a niece who has been caring. That is something I hear a lot. I do not mean that they are just a nephew or a niece because that is a very important familial relationship but in addition to that they may have been in a long-term caring role too. There are a number of issues to unpack here.”
“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 Government further moves in this area. In fact, I commit to keeping these issues under review. That is the first point I would make. Second, I take the Deputy's point very much about the changing face of Ireland, diversity and composition of families. That is all absolutely true. I will be truthful that any significant changes in what we call threshold B does come at a significant cost.”
“What the group did very well was examine a number of cost modelling exercises, including proposals to amend the group B threshold parameters, as the Deputy and many others have raised in the House. There is a significant cost associated with further changes to the group thresholds. That is not necessarily a reason to make or not make them but it is something we must factor into our considerations. I recognise the burden of capital taxation and will continue to review these matters alongside my officials. We will consider any further changes in the context of the next budget.”
“The group C threshold increased to €20,000 from €16,250, with this threshold applying in all other cases. These increases amounted to an increase of 19.4% for group A, while the groups B and C thresholds increased by 23%. My officials examined CAT as part of last year's annual tax strategy group exercise. The resultant papers outlined the tax policy considerations for the Government and the options available to it in forming last year's budget. Published in advance of the budget, they are the best means of considering issues such as inheritance tax in an analytical and transparent way. The tax strategy group is not a decision-making body - that is a matter for the Government and this House - and the papers produced by my Department are simply a list of options and issues to be considered in the budgetary process.”
“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 threshold, below which CAT does not arise. The group thresholds were most recently increased in budget 2025. The group A threshold, which in general applies where the beneficiary is a child of the disponer, increased to €400,000 from €335,000. The group B threshold increased to €40,000 from €32,500. This threshold applies where the beneficiary is a brother, sister, niece, nephew or lineal ancestor or lineal descendant of the disponer.”
“I take that point about the extra cost faced by families. I would point out as regards gym membership that we already have the reduced VAT rate of 9%, which is worth around €32 million per annum, be that to the gym operators or being passed on in membership fees. Of course, how we support families with the costs of trying to live healthily is the point that is uniting both Deputies and certainly something that we will keep under review.”
“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 a further tweaking, development or evolution of the policy points that Deputy Byrne is trying to advance. Regarding Deputy Callaghan's point, we have to get young people off their phones, off social media and back out exercising, socialising, engaging and making eye contact with one another again. I hope that the House can unite around measures to get people off their phones and back moving again.”
“However, we will keep this under review, and I take the Deputy's point about osteoporosis and the specific health benefits of resistance training. We have some income tax supports already. I have outlined the VAT and benefit-in-kind measures. There are also a number of other tax and direct expenditure measures. To make long story short, though, I will give consideration to this when the tax strategy papers are compiled again this year. I am happy to engage with the Deputy in advance of the next budget.”
“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 said that, conservatively, the measure would have an additional Exchequer cost of the order of €65 million, or if applied to all sports club memberships, about €147 million. There were some concerns about the dead weight in tax, which is there for all to read. I will not waste the time of the House with it now.”
“Any income received and availing of the relief by the sports body must be used for the purpose of promoting the game or the sport. The Finance Act 2024 provided new measures in relation to sports bodies and their donors in terms of being able to elect for tax relief. Officials in my Department considered potential tax measures to support gym membership as part of the annual tax strategy group process last year in chapter 10 of the paper, "Income Tax: Tax Strategy Group - 25/01", which is available on the Department's website. This will be kept under review in the context of future budgets.”
“The tax code already provides for a number of fitness-based measures, including the cycle to work scheme and the accelerated capital allowance scheme for child care facilities, but also for fitness centres, which encourages employers to develop fitness centres on site for their employees. Furthermore, the private gym sector already receives tax-based public support through the reduced rate of 9% VAT on its membership fees. It is estimated that this reduced rate saves private gym operators and gym members around €32 million per year. An exemption from income tax and corporation tax also applies for the income of certain bodies established for the purposes of the promotion of athletic or amateur games or sports where it can be shown to the satisfaction of Revenue that such income is applied solely for these for these purposes.”
“The allocation for the sports programme in the budget of 2026 is over €290 million, meaning an increase of just under €60 million, or 26%. This clearly exceeds the national sports policy commitment to double Government funding in sport by 2027 compared to 2018 levels. Our sincerity, bona fides and credibility in terms of investment in sport and physical and mental exercise and well-being are there for all to see. The programme for Government says that we will consider measures in conjunction with my Department to encourage gym membership and active participation in sport and exercise.”
“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 over €1 billion in sports infrastructure and development in Ireland since 2018. It is worth putting that figure on the record. The return on that investment in community participation, inclusion, integration, and physical and mental well-being is enormous and it is probably not even possible to fully quantify all of those benefits.”
“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 continues to keep this under review. I want to see a situation where we do not have occupied Palestinian territories but where we have a two-state solution. That is the position of the Irish Government.”
“The second point, and this is just a statement of the obvious, is that we are operating in a world where these are such large, global companies that have vast presences across the world. They may have a very small presence in a territory that we believe is absolutely illegally occupied but they are massive, global companies and that is a complicating factor. The independence of the NTMA and the ISIF has to be respected. I met with them recently and conveyed my views in relation to this. It represents only 0.16% of its global portfolio.”
“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 views that I know are shared in this House. I will make two points to the Deputy on this. The first is that it is my understanding that ISIF exposure to companies involved in specified activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, as listed on the UN database, account for about 0.16% of its global portfolio. The fund has taken a number of decisions already to divest.”
“As I have outlined already, ISIF has, to date, completed several divestment programmes and has also excluded investments from the fund. Exclusion is used on a limited basis, reflecting exclusions mandated by legislation including the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018 and the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008, among others.”
“The six companies are known and I am happy to provide them to the Deputy but in the interests of time, I will not name them now. The NTMA also divested from directly held sovereign bond holdings within the global portfolio across Egypt, Israel, and Jordan in July 2025. It is important to state the companies in question operate all over the world and ISIF's investment in them represents a very small proportion of its overall investments. This is, truthfully, some of the challenge. These are companies that are global and that operate right throughout the world. Unfortunately it is also true to say that divestment from these companies does not mean that they would stop maintaining their presence in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
“The Deputy refers to the ISIF and to the UN Human Rights Council database, which identifies businesses involved in specific activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. This UN database was first issued in 2020, updated in June 2023 and most recently updated in September 2025. It is important to say from the outset that ISIF has complete independence in implementing its investment strategy under the law of the land, namely, the National Treasury Management Agency Acts, through an investment committee that reports to the NTMA's board. However, in 2024 ISIF took an investment decision to divest from six companies, all of which remain on the updated UN database, with a total value at the time of the divestment decision of approximately €2.95 million.”
“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 national, EU and international levels. We have been a clear and leading voice on this. Ireland’s financial support to the people in Palestine since January 2023 will amount to €144 million by the end of this year, following a recent announcement of additional funding made by the Minister for foreign affairs, Deputy McEntee.”
“While different people will have different views, we took decisions to lower the cost base for the hospitality sector. We took the decision to try to stimulate apartment building. Let us see and we will debate that in time. I believe that is a good thing to have done; the Deputy has a different view. We also took the decision to invest significantly in public services, including an extra €618 million in disability services. The Deputy knows my views on the progress I believe we can make on personal income tax to help working families in the time ahead.”
“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 things he thinks we should have done and we also have a list of things we did. Budgets are about trying to get the balance right. Wages are also up. The State pension is also up. Carer's allowance is up. Employment is up. Inflation is falling. The number of people buying their first home is up. The number of homes being built is also up. We intend to build on that in the time ahead because this was the first budget of five.”
“We saw large increases in eligibility for fuel allowance. The minimum wage also increased. Next month, we will expand the fuel allowance for families receiving working family payment. Later this year we will introduce the largest ever increase in income disregards for carer's allowance. We will pay the carer's support grant. We are expanding the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance for preschool children. I accept the cost-of-living challenge is real; I do not doubt that. However, I disagree and push back on the idea that we did not take actions to try to assist.”
“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 increased weekly payments to 1.5 million people, including our pensioners, carers and people with disabilities. These payments have been increased by more than €50 over the past number of years. We increased the domiciliary care allowance. We have the largest ever increase in the child support payment. To help working families, which we rightly talk a lot about in this House, we saw a large increase the threshold for the working family payment.”
“However, recognising that energy prices remain elevated, we extended the reduced VAT rate on gas and electricity bills until 2030. We also extended the rent tax credit and mortgage interest relief to further support households. Headline inflation averaged just over 2% in 2025. I am, of course, conscious that the rate reached around 3% in the autumn of 2025, as the Deputy alluded to. The Department is clear this increase reflected a base effect, meaning that very low figures were recorded in the same period a year earlier. Inflation is now moderating. We see this in the figures for both December and January. This reflects, in part, the unwinding of the base effects. This is in line with my Department's expectations and we expect further moderation as the year progresses.”
“At the same time, we avoided a scenario whereby fiscal policy would have served to add inflationary pressures in our economy. I know this is a hard thing to say when people are under pressure, but the Government can have an inflationary effect which can inadvertently make things more challenging in relation to the cost of living. That is always a balance one has to try to strike. Full employment can never be taken for granted, as it sometimes is in political debate. The budget measures were calibrated to protect jobs, maintain our competitiveness and keep our public finances safe while allowing for increased capital investment. The budget moved away from the one-off packages of previous budgets, as we said we would do, in favour of more targeted and permanent measures that will provide greater certainty to people.”
“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 that people with the lowest incomes fare the best, with gains in the bottom two cohorts of 4.9% and 3.8% respectively. The targeted nature of the package is also evident in supports provided to households with children. Over previous budgets, governments provided supports to give relief to the most vulnerable in the face of extraordinary shocks.”
“While I will not get involved on an individual mortgage, I am very happy to take that as an example and discuss it directly with the Central Bank and revert to the Deputy if he wishes to send it on to me.”
“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 protections that are there are robust and are meant to apply without fear or favour to all regulated entities. I take very seriously any entity that does not follow those standards because they are the laws of our land. They are the structures we have in place. I do not have the benefit of the information the Deputy has.”