Results 23,581-23,600 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: Most of the time he has no idea what the real world is like. He is all theory. He should speak to his colleagues who run clinics every week and understand these matters.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: That is the idea.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: I would never find my way around the gold coast. I have not been there for a long time. I do not yet know what we will do in terms of developing a legal base for these intermediaries but I will take advice on the matter. The intention is that 100 individuals with expertise would act as interlocutors for people with impaired mortgages to equalise the relationship. They would carry out the...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: We have had three inquiries into the banking system. They have been debated in the House. If the referendum arising from the Abbeylara judgment goes through next week, it looks as if we will have another in-house inquiry into the banking system. When the economic council of the Government set up the Keane group, it wanted a report to be prepared very quickly. We were responding to many...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: We know what happened. There are three reports on it. We do not have to remember it for the future. We do not have to keep flogging it all the time. It is much more important to move on a blueprint to help people with impaired mortgages, rather than having another shouting match about it.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: I asked the Keane group to report by the end of September. It did that. It did not involve outside bodies because I wanted an initial blueprint to put before the House so we would have some kind of framework for action. It is not true to say the group ignored the banks, or took the side of the banks. Like much of the language of the public service, the group's language is unemotional. If...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: Do Deputies think the institutions are pleased about the possibility that people with incomes will be able to move towards bankruptcy as a means of resolving their problems with impaired assets? Of course they are not.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: Under the mortgage-to-rent scheme, the bank will have to retain property and lease and manage it. They will not welcome that. Does the Deputy think the banks want to release property to local authorities while maintaining ownership of it? Rather than the banks collecting mortgage repayments, the local authorities will be collecting rent. When one examines the individual proposals, one...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: It is not true to suggest that foreign banks which offered mortgages here are totally outside the scope of these recommendations. They are not.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: It comes together with the Central Bank's procedures. There is a pretty strong policy unit in the Department of Finance. We brought in the expertise that was in the National Treasury Management Agency. There is a banking policy unit there now. We are going to drive these recommendations. I am not saying these are the only recommendations we are going to drive. Mr. Keane did a very good...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy's first question related to a court judgment under the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009. The Department of Justice and Equality is assessing the implications of the judgment. They will introduce proposals in the context of its package of legislation on insolvency and bankruptcy. There is no commitment or intention to have a second Keane report that would consider the...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: Certainly, I do not see any particular reduction in rents within a couple of miles of this place. The buy-to-rent market in certain parts of the country has gone very well. There are problems with the buy-to-rent market to the extent that some of the development was driven by tax breaks. The main prop when some blocks of apartments were being developed was a tax break. They were not...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: There is a very clear distinction between owner-occupiers and people who developed property for rental purposes.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: I will deal with the questions in reverse order. The shared ownership scheme involved a type of split mortgage, with the local authority taking an equity share. It is not a million miles from the solutions we are proposing. An examination of that model might offer a way of structuring the split mortgage subsequently. The Deputy referred to the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose. The reason...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: Sorry, I did not hear what the Deputy said.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: The composition of the group represented a pragmatic arrangement. Mr. Keane has been seconded from KPMG to the Department of Finance for some time. He is primarily an accountant with necessary expertise. Therefore, we put him in as leader of the group. There were officials from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government because they had expertise and responsibility...

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: That is what the country is getting.

Report by the Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (20 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: Why does Deputy Ó Caoláin think we are holding this debate?

Written Answers — Tax Yield: Tax Yield (19 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that in 2010, total receipts from the income levy amounted to €1,446 million.

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (19 Oct 2011)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the person concerned has written to the Revenue Commissioners seeking an internal review of his tax affairs. Revenue's Internal Review Unit will ensure that the review is completed as soon as possible.