Results 11,061-11,080 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: Yes. It will be welcome and significant but we will wait for the CSO to come out with the figure. It will be of benefit. If the figure of 4.8% was to go down to 4.7% as a result of technical adjustment, the other rule of thumb I use is that every decimal point - every 0.1 - is about €170 million of an adjustment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I understand that the CSO intends announcing by the end of June or early July. It will be the end of June. It will be an adjustment that will say that because of the technical adjustments, Ireland's GDP is no longer €166 billion or so, it is a little bit above that. It will apply from the day the CSO announces it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: So then one can start running the numbers for one's ratios after that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not want to make too much of it. In very simplistic terms, and the committee is very familiar with it, it is like running a race. One must run a mile-long race. If one gets odds of a quarter of a mile, one only has to run three-quarters. If one's year-end position is better than the budget position of 4.8%, as one goes down - 4.7%. 4.6%, 4.5% and 4.4% - one has less correction to do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: We will have it by the end of June.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is only technical.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: One will have the information immediately. All one does is a new sum so one will have a slightly lower deficit but the Vice Chairman should not make too much of it. This is not the main moving part that is going to make an adjustment of less than €2 billion. It is one of the elements that is moving in the right direction.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not know whether that is the Deputy’s view or not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is a question that is rhetorical in many of its aspects. Effectively, the Deputy is trying to get an answer and then will twist my views subsequently. I have laid out what the situation is. If the Deputy believes it would be of greater benefit to the taxpayer to sell the bank shares on the open market than anything we would get from the ESM, he will be right. However, that is not going...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: No, no, no. The Deputy has laid a number of charges against me, to which I would like to reply.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is getting all the answers. The problem is that he just does not like them. He claims the negotiating strategy adopted by me is leading to a situation in which we will not be successful, and that we should be more forceful. He took the exact same view when we were negotiating the promissory note, the maturity of the official loans from Europe, as well as the reduction of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I know the Deputy likes bad news rather than good news. He has to listen to the good news as well, however.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: No; there was no surprise there. Several technical issues were discussed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: We have raised some technical and drafting issues with the Commission on the introductory assessment of the country-specific recommendations, CSRs. These include the language on the binding nature of the expenditure ceilings, the timeline for introducing health identifiers, and the purpose of improved data collection in the Courts Service. We expect to see agreement on suitable amendments...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: We will look at all the issues at budget time. As I announced in last year’s budget, we are looking at the appropriateness of all the tax measures in the agrifood industry and are in full consultation with all the interest groups involved. The OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will probably bring forward recommendations in September on the BEPS, base...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is a commitment to achieve a balanced budget over the medium term. Hopefully, we will achieve that point by 2018, but not necessarily so. We think there is enough growth now in the system to take us from a deficit of below 3% in 2015 to a balanced position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is merit in the Deputy’s opinion on this. My officials will consult with Professor John McHale’s organisation to reconcile the data and the manner in which it was treated. We are also consulting with the Commission to see exactly whether it will be 2018 or 2019. There is flexibility to allow for the structural deficit position whereby one can be at 0% or even a minus...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: No; I am giving the Deputy context.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is positive as well. I am providing context. AIB has a value also. It has been valued by the National Pensions Reserve Fund at approximately €11 billion, which is against an input by the taxpayer of slightly in excess of €20 billion. Its independently assessed value is approximately halfway there. My point is that while circumstances have changed, we have succeeded in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I will explain myself and the Deputy can comment afterwards. He should not put words in my mouth. My point is that the next step is to evaluate whether it would be timely to put in an application for retroactive capital for the banks and to consider the terms in which we would couch an application after November when the mechanism comes into effect.