Results 21,581-21,600 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: There is total employment of 10,000 people and the sector makes a direct contribution of more than €1 billion to the economy, with its total economic value estimated at €2.3 billion. There are significant social and tourism-related benefits. Forestry has an influence on climate change and an important role to play in helping Ireland to achieve its international emissions...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I assume that Deputy Doherty was referring to the introduction of a third rate of income tax. Based on Deputy Tóibín's contribution, the proposal seems to be one of a third rate at 47% on incomes in excess of €100,000. A fair, efficient and competitive income tax system is essential for economic growth and job creation. I have long said that the burden of the income tax...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: Certainly we can all identify with very high levels of emigration that took place since the crisis struck in 2008. Many people were driven out of the country. In some years the best and the brightest left. The reason they left was that the policies that were pursued by the Administration leading up to those years proved to be a disaster. That is a matter of fact. We will not get them...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: That is what policy-making is about. If one cannot see into the future-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is using a method of debating that is often employed. He is arguing from the particular to the general by using particular lurid arguments that will excite sympathy from his audience, before applying those arguments as if they were general. However, they are not general. The health service, the education service and other desirable services are short of resources because the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: The argument is that the Deputy's way of doing things has the potential to make things worse, regardless of how well-meaning he is. The way to make things better is the way we have been doing it. If we can get the economy growing at very strong rates, the economy will throw up resources that we can use not only to provide better services but also to reduce tax and balance the budget. In...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: Yes, but €100,000 is Sinn Féin's opening offer.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: That is another problem.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: There is always a drift. If Sinn Féin gets into government and the country experiences economic and fiscal difficulties, the €100,000 threshold will start to go down because the Government will need to collect more taxes from people on middle incomes. The Deputy's proposal is positively dangerous.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I would like to return to a question that was asked earlier by Deputy Boyd Barrett, but which I did not answer, unfortunately. As the Deputy said, there are valuable houses in the constituency he represents that are owned by elderly people who do not have incomes that are commensurate with the value of those homes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: When we introduced the property tax legislation, we deliberately included provisions in it to allow people in such circumstances to defer the property tax. It becomes a charge on the estate rather than on their income. We have allowed for that. People in the circumstances described by the Deputy do not have to pay property tax. Their obligations to the taxpayer can be-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: -----fulfilled subsequently because the charge is on the estate.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is difficult to estimate these matters because the people commissioning films in Ireland are based abroad and work through Irish associates. I am increasing the limit because it appears to be the case that it was set too low. When I introduced it at €50 million, I promised that I would consider the position in due course. Approximately half of the production costs of a modern...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is coming from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and from the Irish film industry. In Ireland, the structure is that there are people here who act as co-producers or agents for production companies abroad, and some of it was coming from at least one of those. I have had no communication that I can recall from a foreign-based production company. It was...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: Anything related.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is per project. It is the cap on the budget of a project, and more than one in a year is possible.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I did not consider that and I did not have any advice that such would be of benefit. As I say, I am a little tentative about it. A series is generally regarded as a project. There was no request to do what the Deputy mentions. If we brought it down too low, for example, to small films, they would be an administrative burden on Revenue. The policy idea, coming from the Departments of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: It might be but that case has not been made to me. I am relying quite a lot on the Irish film industry and those who are active in the area already. I stated in the budget speech that we would review it again in two years time, and we can take those ideas into account then. I would be interested in evidence-based submissions.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 19:In page 14, line 25, after "2014" to insert "is amended". As amendments Nos. 19 to 21, inclusive, relate to the employment and investment incentive scheme, I propose to take these amendments together. Amendments Nos. 19 and 20 are technical in nature and are designed to correct drafting errors in section 16 of the Finance Bill, which amends Part 16 of the Principal...