Results 24,781-24,800 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: This is a very successful scheme and would have more than paid for itself over the years. A total of 47,000 homes have been improved under this scheme and approximately €1 million worth of work has been carried out, involving 8,500 contractors. It is quite significant. It came into operation in October 2013 with the aim of stimulating the legitimate tax compliant construction sector...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: It did not oppose the amendment. It just pointed out this fact.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The scheme has worked very well, as Deputies have agreed. It was introduced in the first instance not only to improve housing stock, but also to try to get the building industry off the ground. At the time it was introduced, one could travel 100 miles of road without seeing a JCB at work or a bit of scaffolding around a house. The scheme achieved its objectives. I do not see it as a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The signal from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government was not that significant work done to a house would be taken into account. What would be taken into account was the assumption that the tenant had in excess of €5,000 in savings to carry out the work in the first instance, which should have been part of a means assessment for rent.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Is the work being carried out by direct labour? The scheme is confined to contractors who register with Revenue.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I will look at it between now and Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I am not committing to revise the scheme in general. I am committing to look at Deputy Burton's proposal.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 13:In page 8, line 20, to delete "subsection (5)" and substitute "subsection (4)". Many of these amendments are minor in nature, involving a drafting change or a correction to cross-references within the new section 477C. I will outline briefly the main substantive revisions. Amendment No. 14 introduces a revision to the definition of "qualifying loan" to make it clear...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: It only applies to mortgages from financial institutions.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 14:In page 9, line 18, after "lender" to insert "(but this does not exclude a loan to which a guarantor is a party)".

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: We have moved from the amendments into the substantive issue. The measure is being introduced as one part, and indeed a small part, of many actions to develop a fully functioning housing market that responds adequately to the needs of our citizens. They are all included in Rebuilding Ireland, the action plan for housing and homelessness which was launched last July. Every Deputy in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I thank all members for their contributions and I would like to tease this out further to see if there is any agreement across the House on this. Everybody agrees that not enough houses are being built at the moment to meet the potential demand, especially from first-time buyers, and analogous to that, rents are increasing because there is not a sufficient supply for apartments and houses to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Economic demand is people who have money to buy. I am trying to turn putative demand into actual financial demand, and that will drive supply. The financial demand is being driven by giving people the wherewithal to put the deposit together. I hear anecdotally, although I cannot prove it, that it is beginning to move already. Planning permission is being sought for extra houses and sites...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is including second-hand houses in his figures.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: That is not possible.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: If the Deputy's arguments are correct and there is such a money demand out there for new houses, why are new houses not being built-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: -----in the private sector?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is misinterpreting the figures.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I will provide Deputy Doherty with one figure before he finishes. The current trend of first-time buyers buying new houses, according to Revenue, is 150 a month.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The current trend of first-time buyers buying new houses is 150 a month. There is plenty of headroom in this game within the money provided-----