Results 19,821-19,840 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Usually exceptional circumstances are difficult to foresee. If one takes a recent exceptional circumstance, who would have foreseen that an earthquake in Japan would have led to a tsunami which led to a nuclear accident? Exceptional circumstances, by their nature, are hard to foresee. If they were foreseeable they might not happen because one would take preventative measures. As outlined...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Section 4 deals with the debt rule specified in Article 4 of the stability treaty. The requirements of the debt rule are already law under EU Regulation 1467/97, as amended under the European six-pack of reforms. However, as the debt rule is specifically included in the stability treaty, we are providing for its implementation in domestic law through this Bill. The text accomplishes this...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: The people, in a referendum, accepted the stability treaty on 31 May. Any amendment that would allow the Government to choose not to abide by the fiscal rules would run counter to a decision of the people. Consequently, it is the Deputy's amendments that are anti-democratic, rather than the position being taken in the section.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: When a change to the Constitution is accepted by the people and the Constitution is amended, obviously the constitutional amendment restricts the type of law that can be proposed by the Executive to the Parliament. Moreover, it restricts the type of law that the Parliament can endorse because it must accord with the Constitution which, as I understand from what the Vice Chairman has read, is...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: The purpose of the legislation is exactly to bind the hands of this and future Governments in so far as the fiscal rules are concerned. It is to ensure future Governments will not go crazy, as it was alleged a previous Government had. Fiscal rules that are subject to subjective interpretation by individual parties or Deputies are absolutely useless. The criteria must be objective and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: The remarks I made were about the Bill as a whole and its connection with the treaty; they were not founded particularly on section 2. I will read the speaking note on the section to illustrate its scope. It requires the Government to endeavour to comply with the fiscal rules set out in subsequent sections. It also provides that the official macro-economic and budgetary forecasts prepared...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I do not think there is much point in my spending a Thursday afternoon relighting the referendum campaign. The fiscal treaty was not designed to correct bad practice in Ireland; rather, it was designed to provide fiscal rules across the eurozone and has now been endorsed by all parliaments in the eurozone. It is not designed specifically to fit an Irish case. The rules are important, but...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Haulage Industry Regulation (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy is aware a working group was set up between officials of my Department, the IRHA and members of the Oireachtas. This working group had a series of meetings to discuss issues of concern to the haulage industry including the matter of an essential users rebate. I have recently received a submission from the group and I am considering the matters raised.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Job Assist Scheme Eligibility (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Revenue Job Assist allowance is available to two separate categories of individual: (a) - an individual who, prior to taking up a qualifying employment, was continuously unemployed for the immediate period of 12 months and who was in receipt of either Jobseeker’s Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or the One-Parent Family Payment. Individuals that sign for PRSI credits are...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Black Economy Issues (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95, 97 and 98 together. I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they are very mindful of the unfair competitive advantage to be gained by those businesses that do not fulfil their tax obligations. Revenue’s tax and duty compliance programmes are under constant review to ensure that they are focussed on the areas of greatest risk, including...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am well aware of the challenges facing all businesses in the current economic climate. My Department is just one of many who are working to support and encourage business in Ireland, and the following are some examples of how this is being done. Access to credit is widely regarded as one of the biggest challenges facing businesses in Ireland at present. The Government has imposed lending...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that Section 469 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for tax relief in respect of health expenses in the provision of health care incurred by an individual or an individual’s spouse or civil partner, on their own behalf or on behalf of someone else. Any contribution made by an individual in defraying nursing home expenses on behalf of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: The position, as stated in the Programme for Government, is that as part of the Government’s fiscal strategy, we will maintain the current rates of income tax along with bands and credits. In addition, we will not increase the top marginal rates of taxes on income. There are no plans at this time to depart from this policy. I should point out that the top marginal rate of taxation...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: As I have stated recently to the Deputy, the estimated full-year costs and-or yields of the tax revenue measures introduced in Budget 2012 are set out on pages B5 to B11 of the Summary of 2012 Budget and Estimates Measures Policy Changes section of the budget 2012 book. In the context of producing the budget 2013 tax revenue forecasts in the coming weeks, the Revenue Commissioners will...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pension Provisions (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the latest relevant information available is in respect of income tax relief allowed for contributions to Retirement Annuity Contracts (RACs) and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) for the 2009 income tax year. RACs and PRSAs are available to self-employed people and to employees who are not in occupational pension schemes. The...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that contracts for routine maintenance work do not come within the scope of Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT). However, RCT applies to all construction works ranging from major construction projects to general repair works. Repair work includes the replacement of constituent parts of a building or structure, for example, the repair of a broken window....

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I understand the Deputy is asking about the yield from the removal from tax law of what is known as the remittance basis of taxation, which applies to certain foreign income and gains of those who are tax resident but not domiciled in the State. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners the "remittance basis of taxation" means, in brief, that apart from employment income, foreign income and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that on the basis of the expected cost of Stamp Duty forgone due to consanguinity relief in 2012 it is estimated that the full year yield from an immediate abolition of the relief would be of the order of €7 million. Consanguinity relief on transfers of non-residential property will be abolished with effect from 1 January 2015, and has...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (18 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the estimated cost to the Exchequer of top slicing relief in 2010, the latest year for which the necessary detailed information is available, is €36.7 million.