Search Results for 'Minister for Finance'

Well, it has been a busy week all round, particularly in politics. Firstly, we had the Bankruptcy Bill which was brought forward by Willie Penrose, Labour TD for Longford-Westmeath.

It was encouraging to hear the Minister for Finance announce in his recent Budget speech an increase in the tax free threshold on gifts or inheritances from parents to children. The threshold now stands at €280,000 (increase of €55,000) with effect from 14 October 2015.

It is said that “charity begins at home”.  It is also said “look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves”.  Maybe this has been updated for cents and euros I’m not sure but as part of the recent Budget documentation, a report on the VAT cost for charities was released by the Department of Finance.  Its main findings and representations were put forward by the Irish charities Tax Reform Group, a working group formed to examine proposals of reducing the VAT burden on charities in Ireland. 

The announcement by Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly, that he is to reduce levies for construction and make changes to planning standards will increase the supply of houses and lower construction costs, according to the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).

The increase in incomes due to changes in the USC, and the savings that will be made as a result of the extension of free GP care, and a second free pre-school year, will "more than cover the extra costs incurred by water charges and the property tax".

An extra €80 million of taxpayers’ money will go towards subvention of the highly controversial, and much mistrusted, body Irish Water from next year, a Freedom of Information request from a Galway county councillor has revealed.

For the first time in seven bitter years, we are witnessing serious opposition to Government policies that have made ordinary folk pay for an economic crisis they did not create. This resistance did not come from within the Dáil. It emerged through actions taken completely outside of the parliamentary process arising from the formation of the Right2Water campaign in opposition to water charges.

I am aware that earlier when I started to write for the Advertiser that we spoke about the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry but it has now concluded its work. I thought it would be helpful to review how it conducted itself and how it ended.