Results 20,041-20,060 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

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

Michael Noonan: We need no lessons in democracy from you, sir.

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

Michael Noonan: The institutions are negotiating in good faith and a number of examples have appeared in the media without contradiction. One of the key requirements for the Greek authorities is that the primary surplus of 4.5%, which was originally required, would no longer be required. That was a huge concession by the European institutions. As colleagues know, a primary surplus is the surplus a country...

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

Michael Noonan: I was not party to the negotiations because I can only play a part in them at Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings. We do not have an Irish representative at the technical talks but nor does any other country. The negotiations involve the representatives of the three institutions and of the Greek Government. By the middle of last week, all information emanating publicly and privately suggested...

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

Michael Noonan: Deputy Murphy's last intervention is composed of series of rhetorical questions which are not real questions. They are rhetorical questions to make political points. As I stated at the start of the process we are engaged in now, we stated our position very early on at the first meeting where this was discussed in the Eurogroup and ECOFIN. At the meeting, and publicly, I stated the Irish...

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

Michael Noonan: We have substantially done our negotiations because we are no longer a programme country. I told the Greek Finance Minister that he should look at the way we resolved our problems when we were refused a write-down on the private debt element. We resolved our problems by getting very long extensions of the maturities of the official loans to Ireland. We got all the margins removed, relating...

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

Michael Noonan: If we were only involved in the negotiation of a pay increase for two nightwatchmen we would not announce the gap because it would affect the possibility of a resolution. Nobody negotiates on the basis of saying “the gap is now this much”. That only paints people into corners.

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

Michael Noonan: I believe Deputy Boyd Barrett's analysis is incorrect. I am not in favour of austerity. I finished austerity in Ireland in the last budget. We increased no taxes and imposed no further expenditure cuts. There is no austerity regime in this country. Austerity was a means to an end and we are all glad it is over. It is the same in every European country, whether in Spain, Portugal,...

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

Michael Noonan: May I answer Deputy Boyd Barrett's question? The bigger problem is that while I can access the position of the institutions and can get reasonable information, I do not know what the Greek position is, because many of the Greek statistics are fictional. That makes it very difficult, if one does not know the position of the interlocutors. There are always two sides when creditors are...

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

Michael Noonan: It had a primary surplus last January. It does not have it anymore.

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

Michael Noonan: With respect, Deputy Boyd Barrett does not understand the position of many of the European countries. European countries that contributed to Greece's two programmes went to their parliaments and then the parliamentarians went to their people and told them that they were giving loans to Greece which would be paid back. That is what they told their taxpayers and they are accountable to their...

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

Michael Noonan: No, I need to reply as I go along.

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

Michael Noonan: No, I would rather reply separately, because Deputy Boyd Barrett has made a whole series of unsubstantiated charges again. There is great solidarity between the member states of Europe, all 27 of them, and the Greek Government and the Greek people. That solidarity has been proven in two separate programmes where European taxpayers contributed €350 million to Greece, which would have...

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

Michael Noonan: What document is the Deputy talking about?

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

Michael Noonan: First, it is very important that we reduce the burden of our sovereign debt and, indeed, the burden of personal indebtedness. They are priorities of the Government, as I described earlier. I hope to have debt under 100% of GDP by the end of 2016. It is not the fact that we have to repay a great deal of interest each year that prevents us from putting extra money into capital investment, it...

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

Michael Noonan: There is a space there where we will have a very strong investment programme and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will, I understand, be announcing a capital investment programme before too long.

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Order for Report Stage (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank Deputies Michael McGrath and Denis Naughten for tabling thee amendments and all of the Deputies who have contributed to the debate thus far. On amendment No. 2, I understand the Deputy's intention is to impose regulation on firms which take an active role in managing their relationships with borrowers, even when a borrower is not in financial difficulty. However, I am glad to be...

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Going back to first principles, the purpose of the Bill when it becomes law is to ensure that if loan books are sold from a regulated entity to a non-regulated entity that we extend the regulation mandate to the non-regulated purchaser. The Bill fulfils that purpose. Some issues have arisen in regard to the Bill. One is the belief among...

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: There are some interesting ideas there.

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 3:In page 5, line 9, to delete “to which credit has been provided” and substitute the following:“but only to the extent that the credit granted to it under the credit agreement concerned was provided”.The aim of this part of the Bill is to ensure that SMEs which have borrowed from regulated firms maintain the protection they had. It was never...