Results 23,361-23,380 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Social and Affordable Housing (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: I am not sure what point Deputy Boyd Barrett is pursuing. As well as NAMA owning much residential zoned land, it also owns much unoccupied property. Across the country, the agency has unoccupied apartments and houses as part of its debt portfolio. It has expressed its willingness to engage with local authorities for them to acquire some of these properties for social housing purposes. The...

Bank Guarantee Scheme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: The Central Bank of Ireland does not comment on exceptional liquidity assistance, ELA, operations and any queries relating to specific credit institutions would need to be directed to each particular institution. The Central Bank does, however, publish details of its liquidity operations at a system level. Any loans by the bank are contained in its balance sheet which is updated on a...

Bank Guarantee Scheme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: Since I first became Minister for Finance in March 2011, at all my meetings with the ECB the issue of medium-term funding for the banks has been raised. The bank's position is that it is not legally empowered to give funding beyond a short-term basis. Recently, however, there has been a change of policy because it is now willing to give medium-term funding of up to 12 months. We would like...

Bank Guarantee Scheme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: I am not aware of it being applied to Irish banks yet. I will get that information for the Deputy to ensure what information I have provided is up to date.

Bank Guarantee Scheme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: We are considering this aspect. The likelihood is that there will be an extension of the scheme. There is also a likelihood that banks will be in the market to get deposits without guarantee.

Mortgage Assistance (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: As indicated previously, the Government is acutely aware of the increasing financial stress that some households are facing arising from difficulty in meeting their mortgage commitments. It was for this reason that the Government requested an inter-departmental group to consider further necessary actions to alleviate the increasing problem of mortgage over-indebtedness. As the Deputy is...

Mortgage Assistance (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: All Deputies opposite and the Deputies on this side of the House, together with Deputy McGrath, urge that urgent action be taken in this instance. While the Keane report was put before the House for the subject of debate and for information purposes without the Government taking decisions, it was self-evident early in the debate that there was common ground on a number of issues and the...

Mortgage Assistance (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: Work is proceeding and the lack of an announcement has not inhibited the work, as I have outlined. I am planning to make an announcement before Christmas but whether that is before or after the budget I cannot say. It is more likely to be in those weeks between the budget and the Christmas recess.

Leaders' Questions (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: What about a question on Libya?

Fiscal Policy (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: The terms of the EU-IMF programme require Ireland to achieve a general Government deficit of no more than 8.6% of GDP in 2012. Based on the macroeconomic and fiscal assessment set out in the medium-term fiscal statement, a €3.8 billion adjustment is therefore required in 2012 to meet this deficit target. My Department set out its latest forecasts in the medium-term fiscal statement. GDP...

Fiscal Policy (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: Forecasting is always an inexact science. What we have to do is to use the best information available to come to a judgment on what growth rates may be in the following year. It is generally recognised in the European Union that Ireland has now returned to significant growth rates which are at present in advance of those of most of our colleague countries in the EU. The Deputy is probably...

Fiscal Policy (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: I do not agree with the Deputy that the Department of Finance has erred on the side of optimism in recent years. It has been close enough to the average in its forecasts. Sometimes it has been slightly above and sometimes below. It predicted a growth rate of 0.8% in 2011 and it has now marked up this rate to 1%. This makes it easier at year's end because if one considers the correction...

Banking Sector Regulation (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: I welcome the decision by the majority of lenders to reduce their standard variable rates following the recent announcement by the European Central Bank and I encourage all lenders to follow suit. Such a reduction will be of benefit to home owners struggling with mortgage payments. The Government wants the lending institutions to pass on the interest rate cut for several reasons. In...

Banking Sector Regulation (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy will be aware, the ECB is not the only source of funding for banks in this jurisdiction. A lot of their funding comes from their deposit bases and they provide a variety of interest rates to attract deposits. If one looks at the logic of this, the only reason the ECB reduces interest rates is that it fears Europe may be sliding into recession and as a consequence it wants to...

Banking Sector Regulation (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: Sinn Féin historically has a different approach to getting people to do what it wants them to do than our party would have. The Deputy Governor set out his position-----

Banking Sector Regulation (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: He is also independent in the exercise of his functions, which is important to remember. We will continue our contact with the Deputy Governor. It has proved very effective up to now. He has a range of powers at his disposal. He said he is not seeking new powers at the current time. We will see how the situation develops over the coming weeks.

EU-IMF Programme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: It has always been my position in regard to the payment of unguaranteed unsecured senior bonds that, given the significant cost of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, formerly known as Anglo Irish Bank, to the State and the taxpayer, that the burden of the debt should be shared with bondholders. However, if we were to suspend payments to creditors in IBRC this would have a...

EU-IMF Programme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: Most of what the Deputy said is not correct. Our position, in reply to questions such as this, has always been to set out various hypotheses. The hypothesis I set out last week was that if the EU-IMF deal was withdrawn by the European authorities and the IMF, we would need to make an adjustment, which at present will take more than five years, all in one year. That is where the €18...

EU-IMF Programme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is like other Opposition Deputies who always insist on half-quoting me. I never said it was Fine Gael policy in government to burn bondholders. I said it was Fine Gael policy in government to burden-share or burn bondholders provided we got the consent of the European Central Bank to do so. I campaigned on that basis right through opposition and through the general election...

EU-IMF Programme (15 Nov 2011)

Michael Noonan: That bank's consent was not forthcoming. It is as blunt as that. No one is trying to hide anything from the Deputy. The European Central Bank's consent was not forthcoming.