Results 48,361-48,380 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Global Taxation Architecture: Discussion with Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (23 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: The OECD recommended 15 actions. Does Mr. Saint-Amans think the committee should focus on the actions, if any, that apply to Ireland?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Global Taxation Architecture: Discussion with Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (23 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Mr. Saint-Amans for his time. This has been useful. He mentioned that the OECD did not possess an analysis of the potential winners and losers of the implementation of the 15 action items specified in the report. Obviously, this will be of interest to every country involved. Does Mr. Saint-Amans know of any organisation, be it a national government or a multinational, that has...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Global Taxation Architecture: Discussion with Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (23 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Mr. Saint-Amans. I wish to discuss loopholes in Ireland. One of the sub-committee's objectives, and certainly the reason for setting it up, is to identify the loopholes in Irish law being exploited by multinationals. Mr. Saint-Amans's point was well made, in that these are multinational problems and should be solved internationally. The international taxation regime is complex....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Global Taxation Architecture: Discussion with Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (23 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: If Mr. Saint-Amans or his team was willing to send us a document with a considered opinion in response to my question - for example, if the opinion was that 80% of the problem could be fixed through addressing two or three particular taxation laws in Ireland - it would be interesting and useful.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Global Taxation Architecture: Discussion with Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (23 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I would be willing to be led by Mr. Saint-Amans's definition of the problem. For what it is worth, my definition comprises two elements. First, the macro-problem is that of multinational corporations not paying any tax to sovereign states, which means that non-multinationals and citizens are required to take up the burden. Second, the micro-problem is ensuring that taxes are collected in...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Global Taxation Architecture: Discussion with Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (23 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Mr. Saint-Amans.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: Good. Take the case of a family which can pay its debts and has enough left that it is above the threshold in those guidelines. What if the sub-prime lender says it does not care and tells the family to continue servicing the debt? Is there a danger the Insolvency Service of Ireland will not deal with families in such cases? I do not believe this is the legislation’s intention....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: Will Mr. O'Connor come back to the committee to discuss any developments in this regard, so we can bring them to the attention of the Minister?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: Mr. O'Connor said he was confident the insolvency legislation would lead to the solutions needed. I believe the reduction in arrears is welcome, but this is not the problem. In fact, it is a symptom of the problem. It is over-indebtedness among households that is the problem. I am concerned that some of the banks will minimise the restructuring in personal insolvency arrangements so that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: How can the insolvency service monitor the quality of arrangements to ensure they are not just more sophisticated types of forbearance by the banks?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: How is the service going to monitor agreements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to pick up on two things that were discussed. First, who can avail of the insolvency arrangement process? Some 240,000 mortgages are currently either in arrears or restructured and not in arrears, most of which are on temporary forbearance measures. They have not been restructured in a sustainable manner. There are an awful lot more people - but we do not know how many - who are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand that a voluntary pre-insolvency restructuring would be in their interests, but it would not necessarily be in the interests of the bank. Therefore, the bank will quite happily sit there and say "We're not really worried about what your standard of living is. If you are paying your debts, and continue to do so, then that's fine."

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the theory, but in practice one may find that at least some of the lenders - some of the sub-prime lenders, for example - will not engage in the spirit of what Mr. O'Connor is saying. Much research has been done on what a reasonable standard of living is, but basically the legislation takes the approach of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, but with some stuff taken...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: Just to be clear, the scenario in question involved the write-down of the mortgage, so at the end of the three years the lady in question was put back on a sustainable footing. I am aware of the example. However, most of the examples I have seen do not include write-downs, and those that do last for six years. I want to highlight that the Minister was very clear that it is possible for a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: One of the frequently asked questions at the session in Bray over the weekend was about joint ownership. We had several examples of women who remained in their homes after their husbands were gone, and the husbands were not contributing to the mortgages, which were therefore in arrears. Another example was one in which parents had co-signed for a mortgage, the children had emigrated and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: Have I time to ask one further question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: Mr. O’Connor is very welcome and I thank him for giving his time to the committee. I ran a four hour session on these issues on a sunny Saturday last week in Bray where I had some of the very useful documentation from the Insolvency Service. There is huge interest in this. People are still trying to negotiate even now on behalf of borrowers and I hear the same thing from all of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: On that test, one has to make a judgment call as to what is a reasonable percentage of household income to pay against the debts. Two people could look at a case and one might say these people can meet their debt repayments and therefore they are solvent, while another might say they are not solvent as they are paying 40% of their net income, which is an unsustainable portion. Therefore, on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Insolvency Service of Ireland: Discussion (17 Jul 2013)

Stephen Donnelly: If I as a borrower look at the reasonable standard of living guide produced by the Insolvency Service of Ireland and say I could no longer service my debts were I to leave myself and my family the amount in the guide, would Mr. O’Connor be satisfied that I am insolvent and could therefore initiate an insolvency process?