Results 8,581-8,600 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Competitiveness (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Substantial progress has been made in terms of improving Ireland's competitiveness in recent years. There has been a significant improvement in Ireland's economy-wide cost competitiveness. The European Commission in its autumn forecasts estimated that real unit labour costs in Ireland fell by 4.3 per cent annually in 2014, which is the largest decline across all EU Member States and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Arrears Rate (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Government's Strategy to address the problem of mortgage arrears is overseen by the Construction 2020, Housing Planning and Mortgage Arrears Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by the Taoiseach. The strategy was formulated in response to the recommendations of the Keane Report (2011) and the main elements of it are: - Engagement with the banks to develop appropriate measures for their...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Bank Charges (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: All credit institutions in Ireland are independent commercial entities. I have no statutory role in relation to the charges applied by credit institutions. Section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 requires that credit institutions, prescribed credit institutions and bureaux de change must make a submission to the Central Bank if they wish to introduce any new customer charges or increase...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Loan Books Purchasers (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I understand that most purchasers of loan books have stated they are voluntarily complying with the Codes. Of course voluntary compliance is not enforceable. In order to ensure that consumers maintain these protections, the Government committed in March 2014 to bringing forward legislation to protect consumers whose loans are sold to unregulated entities. The Consumer Protection...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Growth (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Following the successful conclusion of the EU-IMF programme, the Irish economy has emerged from the crisis and economic recovery is now well established. The latest available data for 2014 show that GDP growth for the first three quarters of the year is broadly in line with my Department's forecast at Budget time. According to recent figures published by the European Commission, it...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: House Prices (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: As is the case with other economic indicators, my Department monitors trends in house prices on an ongoing basis. According to the Central Statistics Office, national residential property prices increased by 16.3 per cent in the 12 months to December. Prices in Dublin rose by 22.3 per cent while price growth nationally excluding Dublin stood at 10.2 per cent over the same period. Under...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Growth (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I regularly discuss the evolving economic situation with my counterparts at the monthly ECOFIN meetings, taking into account important developments such as oil price movements. In this regard, it is worth noting that the European Commission will release its Winter Forecasts later this week in which it is expected that it will address the impact of falling oil prices. From an Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banks Recapitalisation (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy will be aware, the Euro-area Heads of State or Government (HoSG) agreed in June 2012 that "it is imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns" and that when a Single Supervisory Mechanism, involving the ECB, is in place and operational, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) could recapitalize banks directly. On 8 December 2014, the ESM's Board of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Availability (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 67 together. As the Deputy is aware, my Department commissions biannual surveys to ascertain the demand for credit by SMEs. This survey series, currently being conducted by Red C on behalf of my Department, is the most comprehensive survey of SME credit demand in Ireland, covering 1,500 respondents and involving over 6,000 direct telephone calls to...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 68 together. The latest data on new mortgage lending issued by the Banking and Payments Federation shows that, albeit coming off a low base, mortgage lending continues to increase. In the third quarter of 2014 (the latest quarter for which information is available) new mortgage lending surpassed the €1bn mark in a quarter for the first time...

European Debt: Motion [Private Members] (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I did not refer to anybody who spoke this evening. I spoke about the people who advocate default.

European Debt: Motion [Private Members] (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: That is not what I actually said. I spoke about those who advocate default but I was not referring to people in this Chamber. This Government will continue to work to broaden and deepen the economic recovery that is taking place across the country. I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy and the other Deputies who signed their names to this motion for giving this House the opportunity to debate an...

European Debt: Motion [Private Members] (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“acknowledges that the financial crisis exposed flaws in the euro area’s design; notes the significant enhancements to the economic, fiscal and banking frameworks in the European Union since the crisis; acknowledges that sustainable growth and job creation...

European Debt: Motion [Private Members] (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy for tabling the motion, which allows us to discuss a very important issue for Ireland and Europe. I hope that in our discussions over the next two evenings we can have a reasonable debate on an issue that is currently at the centre of much dialogue in the euro area. At the heart of the initial motion proposed is the idea that public debt in Ireland and some...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Corporation Tax Regime (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the number of companies that returned profits under the tonnage tax regime on Corporation Tax returns for the years 2003 to 2012, the latest year available, is as set out in the following table: Year Number of Companies Estimated Corporation Tax Liability on Profits Returned Under the Tonnage Tax Regime €m 2003 * * 2004 8 0.1 2005...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Energy Prices (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: My Department monitors and advises on all developments that can impact on the economy, including oil price movements. The price of Brent crude oil has fallen by about 45 per cent in euro terms (nearly 50 per cent in US dollar terms) since the end of September, when the macroeconomic projections that underpin Budget 2015 were finalised. For the most part this is a positive development, and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that tax legislation provides for a limit or ceiling on the total capital value of tax-relieved pension benefits that an individual can draw down in his or her lifetime from all of that individual's pension arrangements. This is known as the Standard Fund Threshold (SFT) and was introduced on 7 December 2005 and reduced on a number of occasions...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Financial Services Regulation (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Ireland supports enhanced regulation of money market funds to minimise system-wide risks and we are open to the consideration of necessary change in this area. However, the European Commission's original proposal on Money Market Funds (MMF) and in particular the proposed capital buffer to be applied to constant net asset value MMFs, would in my view do considerable damage to the constant net...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Eurozone Crisis (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Since May 2010, the euro area Member States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been providing financial support to Greece through an Economic Adjustment Programme in the context of a sharp deterioration in its financing conditions. The Eurogroup agreed to activate stability support to Greece via bilateral loans centrally pooled by the European Commission. At year-end 31 December...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pension Provisions (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is understood that the Deputy s reference to the public service pension levy relates to the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) Not all of the information sought by the Deputy is available. This is due in particular to the fact that members of pension schemes are not charged with paying the stamp duty levy on pension fund assets introduced in 2011 to pay for the Jobs Initiativeand...