Results 6,961-6,980 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Departmental Correspondence (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by Revenue that interest charges are levied on taxpayers who do not meet their tax payment obligations in a timely fashion or who seek to pay their liabilities through phased payment arrangements. The charges are imposed to compensate the Exchequer for the late payment of funds and to ensure equity for the vast majority of taxpayers who pay on time. Revenue has also assured...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tobacco Seizures (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that seizure figures are not separately maintained for Dún Laoghaire. That data is incorporated in the data maintained for Dublin Port as the Revenue operations at Dún Laoghaire are directed and managed from Dublin Port. The data requested by the deputy is as set out in the following tables: 2013 Product category Location Number of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: EU Directives (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: The DGS  Directive which applies to all credit institutions, whether banks or credit unions, entered into force on 4 July 2014 and is required to be transposed into Irish law by 3 July 2015 in order to be applied from 4 July 2015. The main objective of the Directive is to introduce greater harmonisation in areas such as the funding mechanism of DGSs, the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the net liability for income tax for the major sectors for the years 2012 and 2013 was as shown in the following table, as at the end of March 2015.  These figures include net income tax liability and also liability for USC and PRSI.  I am also informed that approximately €141million of this amount was still under active...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank the Acting Chairman and committee members for inviting me to address them in advance of the next ECOFIN Council of Ministers meeting, which will take place on Friday, 19 June, in Luxembourg. This will be the final ECOFIN Council under the Latvian Presidency. While there are already indications that the agenda before the committee will change, it is a useful opportunity to discuss...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: The committee invited me to brief it on-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: -----Friday's ECOFIN meeting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I briefed it on that meeting on the basis of the agenda that was agreed up to yesterday, even though some items have fallen off of it. The only way that the ECOFIN Council will discuss Greece is in terms of a report by the president of the Eurogroup, which he will provide at the start of the meeting. He will report on what happened at the Eurogroup meeting. It is the Eurogroup that will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: The "too big to fail" phrase came from an analysis of the American response to the collapse of Lehman Brothers. It became the conversation point, in that people believed that banks were too big to fail. The American authorities then allowed Lehman Brothers to fail. The phrase has no legal status and no bank in Europe is too big to fail. What is being done here is so that banks can be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: If the investment bank goes down, that is the business of the shareholders and the bank owners. There will be no crossing. It is an improvement and limits the potential liability of a European bank resolution fund. This is my understanding of the approach. I have given the committee the headline figures. The first shot at a definition-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: Yes, and the transactions over €7 million and so on. We are generally supportive of that proposal even though we may decide that we would like a change of limits in a downward direction. However, it does not apply to Irish banks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: Yes. There is a resolution fund in Europe.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: Yes, but-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: It can, but the contributions are phased over a ten-year period in instalments. As it moves along, an increasing proportion of the resolution fund gets mutualised. Early on, one only has access to what one contributes and a bit of the residue. As the fund gets mutualised, the full fund becomes available on a pan-European basis to banks that fail.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: To go back a bit, I wish to make it clear that there are two issues involved in the bank resolution issue. It is different from the bank structural reform, which is not primarily driven by considerations of resolution. A structural reform is taking place separately from the other consideration.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: While I was checking that situation, the Deputy asked a question. The Commission has withdrawn the proposal. There is not sufficient agreement on it to bring it to the political side. It is clear that a common approach is not possible. I will alert the committee at one of our briefing sessions if the proposal returns. At the moment, though,-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: Not only is it off the agenda, it looks like a dead duck.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I have great sympathy for the Greek people. They have suffered a great deal for a long time. They have experienced a level of suffering that we did not even though our community had to make many sacrifices. This is the first point that I would make. I have great regrets that Greece, which was on the cusp of recovery at the start of 2015, has returned to recession. On the hopes of an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: A proposal was put forward after the meeting in Berlin by the President of France, the German Chancellor, Mr. Draghi, Mr. Juncker and the chief executive of the IMF, Ms Lagarde. After that meeting a common paper was put forward. There might not have been a commonality of view, but there was an agreed text, which was offered to the Greek authorities, and it seemed as though it was acceptable...