Results 18,901-18,920 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: In the commercial market, the capital gains tax incentive that I announced in last year’s budget means that any property bought between now and the end of 2013 will be relieved from capital gains tax if held for at least seven years. I am fully aware that regeneration is necessary in a number of our cities in order to ensure a balanced economic recovery. To date regeneration schemes...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: As budget day is a good day for taking stock of where we are, let us do so. In the second half of this year, the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, has raised more than €7 billion in the markets. The Bank of Ireland, ESB, Bord Gáis and AIB all have raised funds for the first time in years. This year, the IDA has announced 84 projects set to create 8,650 jobs. The...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Government will continue to fulfil the conditions of the bailout programme, it will carefully plan full market return, it will build on the strong sectors of the economy and repair the weak sectors until they are strong again, it will grow the economy and create the jobs for which so many out of work and so many young people yearn. Last year, in the budget, despite the lack of...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: This initiative will be strictly policed so as to ensure that the beneficiaries are fully tax compliant. Work is being undertaken by senior officials in a number of Departments to finalise the PlusOne initiative, which is intended to encourage employers to hire individuals who are long-term unemployed. It is envisaged this new incentive will replace the Revenue job assist and the employer...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: As I stated, all the supporting documentation, including the SME ten-point tax reform plan, will be available on the budget website. The Government is complementing these taxation actions with a focus on the provision of credit to SMEs. New initiatives from the Government, such as the microfinance scheme and the loan guarantee scheme are now in place. These schemes are complemented by...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade in Tobacco (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the process of embossing secure tax stamps on cigarette packaging is the method currently used to assist in the detection of illicit cigarettes. Tax stamps are examined using a range of hand held devices that are available to all Revenue enforcement staff. The Revenue Commissioners advise that in 2009 the technical specification for tax stamps...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Liquor Licences (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the numbers of lapsed licences for each of the past 5 years, is set out below under various categories. The function of the Revenue Commissioners under the Licensing Acts 1833 to 2010 is to issue licences, when granted or revived by the District and Circuit Courts. Therefore, the figures below relate only to those licences, which have not...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Budget Submissions (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: I have received a document from SIPTU entitled "Towards a New Course". As with other pre-Budget submissions it has been circulated to the relevant officials so that its contents can be considered in the context of the forthcoming Budget and Finance Bill. As the Deputy is aware it would not be appropriate for me to comment in advance on possible Budget decisions.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: The VAT rating of goods and services is subject to the requirements of EU VAT law with which Irish VAT law must comply. In Ireland the zero rate applies to printed books, including atlases, children’s picture, drawing and colouring books and books of music. It is possible for Ireland to apply the zero rate to printed books because Ireland applied the zero rate to these books on and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: The interest restriction of 75% applying to residential lettings was introduced in the April 2009 supplementary budget as part of an urgent revenue-raising package aimed at stabilising the public finances. The context in which the 2009 measure was introduced, i.e. the need to stabilise public expenditure, still exists. Under the terms of the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland,...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: Any proposed changes in VAT must be considered in the context of the EU VAT Directive, with which Irish VAT law must comply. The zero rate of VAT applies to the supply of newspapers in the UK, as well as in Belgium and Denmark. The VAT Directive provides that where Member States applied a zero rate of VAT to goods and services on 1 January 1991 they are entitled to retain those zero rating...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Revenue Commissioners, who are responsible for collecting duty on motor vehicle fuel, inform me that rapeseed oil, when used as a fuel in diesel motor engines, is categorised as a substitute fuel for auto-diesel and is chargeable to duty at the rate for auto-diesel. However, as it is a biofuel, rapeseed oil is relieved from carbon charges. No differentiation is made between the different...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector Remuneration (5 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Covered Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC) was established, as part of the previous Administration’s response to the banking crisis, to oversee all remuneration plans of senior executives of the covered institutions. It fulfilled its mandate in February 2009 (and is no longer in place) when reporting to the then Government who accepted its recommendations but...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade in Tobacco (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners, who are responsible for the collection of tobacco products tax and for tackling the illicit trade in cigarettes and tobacco products, that they attach a high priority to this issue. The strategy employed by Revenue to tackle this illicit trade is multifaceted. It includes ongoing analysis of the nature and extent of the problem, developing and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Fuel Laundering (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners, who have responsibility for mineral oil tax, that meetings on co-ordinating the response to fuel laundering and illicit fuel take place between relevant Government departments and agencies and their counterparts in Northern Ireland on a regular basis under the auspices of the Cross Border Fuel Fraud Enforcement Group. Agencies involved in this...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pension Provisions (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy’s previous question related to a proposal from IBEC to allow access to certain pension savings on a pre-retirement basis which would represent a move from current principles and practice. The IBEC proposal is being examined as outlined in my reply. The circumstances outlined in the “details supplied” with this question appear to relate to the options...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Financial Services Regulation (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by AIB that in 2007 the AIB Alpha Japan Fund was established to invest in the Japanese property market. The fund closed its fundraising on 3 May 2007 at which time a total of approximately €128 million had been committed by investors to the fund. The number of customers involved has not been publicly disclosed. The fund was sold to investors through a process that...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector Remuneration (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: As I informed the House, I am expecting the consultant’s report on a Review of Remuneration Practices and Frameworks at the Covered Institutions to be delivered by year end, whereupon consultations with the various stakeholders will commence. I fully recognise that there is a real public interest in the levels of remuneration at the covered institutions and I have committed to...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade in Tobacco (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: Section 119, as amended, of the Finance Act 2001 contains penalties for offences in relation to cigarette smuggling. That section sets out the various actions that constitute offences of evasion or attempted evasion of excise duty, as well as the penalties, by way of a fine or imprisonment, for such offences. Where a conviction for an offence under section 119 occurs following a summary...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Vehicle Registration Tax (4 Dec 2012)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy will be aware, my Department engaged in a consultation process with the motor industry and others in relation to restucturing of VRT and motor tax. In addition, a number of proposals were submitted for consideration by the industry in relation to the registration of motor vehicles. The outcome of the consultation will form the basis of decisions to be taken in the context of...