I appreciate the opportunity to speak on the Bill on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance. The Bill has been passed by the Dáil. It is relatively short and provides for some of the energy support measures introduced by Government in March and April to alleviate the impacts of energy price inflation owing to the disruption in the Middle East. I will start by addressing the recent Government announcement to extend certain energy support measures, some of which are included in this Bill. As the House will b…

I thank all Senators for their contributions. We can all agree on one issue, which is that there are high energy costs and we had to make interventions to ensure we could mitigate the most severe impacts of those costs. I will go back and maybe answer some of the questions that were raised. People are talking about increasing excise duty but it is a restoring of excise duty. This was a temporary measure and I suppose the unfortunate thing is when you introduce a temporary measure some members of the Opposition then…

It was a temporary measure that was introduced in response to an international energy crisis, which was one of the worst such crises since the 1970s. I am sorry but Senator Collins cannot have it both ways. She is giving out that excise is increasing and the awful impact that is going to have on families and in the same breath she is saying we did nothing by reducing it - that no family has benefited from the reduction that was introduced. Those do not align. If people did not get a benefit on day one how is it goi…

I am sorry but that is the point she made.

She made the point that no-one benefited. She said the ordinary person pulling up at the forecourt did not benefit from the €750 million intervention the Government made but at the same time the restoration of the excise, which is in response to the fact international oil prices are dropping and the price of fuel at the pump is dropping, is going to have a detrimental impact. The Senator is contradicting herself with that point. When you add the two initial interventions and the interventions we will be bringing to…

I am pleased to introduce Second Stage of the National Treasury Management Agency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026. This Bill represents an important and, in many ways, historic milestone. It provides for the final steps in bringing to a close two of the most significant Irish responses to the global financial crisis, namely, the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and the special liquidation of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC. Both NAMA and the IBRC have now substantially finished their work. T…

I thank the Senators for their contributions, which were all largely in support of the Bill, recognising that winding down NAMA is the right thing to do. Sinn Féin has been co-operating by putting forward amendments. We will not accept them and we have set out the rationale for our belief that they are not necessary. Over the lifetime of NAMA, there has been continuous monitoring, overview and oversight, which is right and proper, as other Senators have said. NAMA's quarterly and annual accounts were laid before th…

I thank all of the Deputies for raising these important matters and for giving all of us an opportunity on all sides of the House to discuss the pressures households are facing regarding the cost of living and the actions the Government is taking. It is fair to say that some people on the far side of the House have been positive in their commentary in highlighting some of the issues that are faced and providing some potential solutions. Most recently, Deputy Heneghan proposed a solution regarding plug-in solar pane…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. It is quite popular currently, largely due to the work of the end tax discrimination group. The group is contacting us all and I acknowledge that it is doing great advocacy work, as the Senator is herself. She has raised this before in the Seanad. The capital acquisitions tax, CAT, is a beneficiary-orientated tax that is payable by the recipient of a gift or inheritance as opposed to the person providing that gift or inheritance. CAT plays an important role in ensuring t…

The Senator can be guaranteed that I will bring her message back loud and clear. I have no doubt that she is using her own offices and her direct contact with the senior Minister in the Department to make her views known. As I have said, €350 million is a significant amount of money. I am sure the Senator has been in Buswells many days in the past few weeks when various advocacy groups are coming to put forward proposals on the need for additional resources to keep critical services going and to support people in o…

I am pleased to bring before the House today the Insurance (Disregard of Certain Medical History and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025. As Senators may be aware, this legislation originated as the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2025, a Private Member's Bill introduced by Deputy Catherine Ardagh. I take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend Deputy Ardagh on her unwavering commitment in bringing this important issue to national attention. Her sustained advocacy, both in introducing the Bill and in championing …

I thank the Senators. There is no point in rehashing the issues. It is heartening to see that we can all come together and work collaboratively on legislation that will make a positive difference to so many families. As all speakers, me included, alluded to, this is something that has affected every family in Ireland, unfortunately, down through the decades. Thankfully, because of the focus of medical research, a diagnosis of cancer is not the life-ending diagnosis that it once was. More and more people, having gon…

I thank the Deputies for tabling these amendments. While I fully appreciate and understand the intent behind them, I am not in a position to accept them. This matter has been considered in detail at pre-legislative scrutiny, Second Stage and Committee Stage. I agree that scrutiny of NAMA's performance and of the value delivered to the taxpayer is both appropriate and important. However, I must again set out why this amendment is neither necessary nor feasible. First, NAMA's performance has been subject to extensive…

I will respond to the amendment that was put down, which is relates to the transfer of staff, not one individual staff member. I thank Deputy Doherty for bringing forward this amendment which proposes to amend the legislation to require us reporting on staff from NAMA to the NTMA, including salary information. As outlined on Committee Stage, the legislation does not include any provisions relating to the transfer of staff from NAMA to the NTMA. The general scheme of the Bill, published in 2024, had included a stand…

I would like to come in.

I would make the point that the current CEO of NAMA had been a permanent employee of the NTMA since before NAMA's establishment. The NAMA CEO position will cease on the dissolution of NAMA. At that point, he will continue as an NTMA employee under his existing employment framework and individual contract. This does not involve a new appointment or, indeed, any special arrangement but reflects his ongoing status as an NTMA employee. He has not been newly appointed or accommodated. Rather, his role is changing follow…

We will have to wait for the publication of the annual report.

In an aggregated-----

In an aggregated format.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 17, to delete lines 35 to 43, and in page 18, to delete lines 1 and 2 and substitute the following: “ ‘residual NAMA matter’ means any asset, liability, right, cause of action, entitlement or obligation of any nature or kind, or legal proceedings, that immediately before the dissolution day was an asset, liability, right, cause of action, entitlement or obligation of any nature or kind of, or relating to, NAMA or a NAMA group entity and, in the case of legal proceedings, were legal p…