Results 25,001-25,020 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Deposit Interest Rates (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by Revenue that Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) at the rate of 41% is currently deducted from interest earned on most relevant deposits.  I am reducing the rate of DIRT in the Finance Bill to 39% with effect from 1 January 2017.  This will be the first of four planned decreases which will see the DIRT rate reduced from 41% to 33% by 2020. Relevant deposits are all...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Household Savings Rate (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The Central Bank has informed me that the Quarterly Financial Accounts published by the Central Bank provide the most comprehensive and timely statistics on household savings. According to the Q1 2016 release, household investment in deposits has been positive for eight consecutive quarters. Net investment by households in deposits amounted to €0.8 billion in the most recent...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Budget Deficit (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The annual general government balance (GGB) is produced by the CSO and published as part of the Government Finance Statistics (GFS)  (available on the CSO website at  ) In the following table the Deputy can see the movement of the GGB for the period 2011-2016Q2 as published in the GFS and the Government Income and Expenditure (GIE) Release from...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: GDP-GNP Levels (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The appropriate comparator for examining relative wage trends on a cross-country basis is real compensation per employee. This equates to nominal wages adjusted for price levels using the GDP deflator. On the basis of this, data from the European Commission's AMECO database confirms that Ireland continues to rank above both the euro area and the wider EU average. In 2015, real compensation...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: House Prices (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The recovery in the economy and the pickup in employment over the last number of years has led to strong growth in the demand for housing. The lack of a sufficient supply response to meet this demand has led to the current pressures in the housing market and requires structural measures to tackle the outstanding bottlenecks which continue to inhibit supply. This Government is committed to...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The supply of gymnastic lessons to children and young people is exempt from VAT, provided the lessons in question are provided as part of a programme that meets the standards set out by the Department of Education and Science in the school syllabus for primary or secondary level schools. Any person providing such a programme should contact their local Revenue District to clarify if it...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Haulage Industry (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: At the outset, it should be noted that in my role as Minister for Finance I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation. However, neither I nor the Central Bank of Ireland, can interfere in the provision or pricing of insurance products, as these matters are of a commercial nature, and are determined by insurance companies...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Issues (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The recent work carried out by my Department and the ESRI to 'Model the Medium to Long Term Potential Macroeconomic Impact of Brexit on Ireland' that was published on 7 November 2016, will be an important input to ensuring that Ireland's interests are protected in the upcoming negotiations at EU level.  Within the analysis of the paper and in line with existing...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Loan Books Purchasers (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2015 was enacted in July 2015 in order to ensure that borrowers, including SMEs, maintained regulatory protections when their loans were sold on to third parties. It was introduced to fill a consumer protection gap that existed where loans were sold by the original lender to an unregulated firm. The 2015 Act...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Rebates (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Businesses who makes supplies that are charged to VAT are entitled to claim input VAT on their business expenses. However, section 60 of the VAT Consolidation Act 2010 prohibits VAT deductibility by businesses for anti-avoidance reasons on certain goods and services which, by their ubiquitous nature, are not easily distinguishable from general non-business use. Expenditure on motor vehicles,...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Exemptions (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I presume the Deputy is suggesting that property owners who lease their property to councils or housing bodies should, on later disposal of the property, have gains attributable to the period during which the property was so leased relieved. I have no plans to introduce such a relief in this Finance Bill. In any case, I am not convinced that such a relief is the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Corporation Tax Regime (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The availability of relief for losses incurred in a business is a well-established feature of corporation tax systems worldwide. This is in recognition of the fact that a business cycle runs over several years and that it would be unbalanced to tax profits in one year and not allow losses in another. Ireland follows the international norm in that losses incurred in the course of a business...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: First, foreign direct investment, as all colleagues will know, is very competitive. There are schemes similar to SARP in other jurisdictions that compete with us for foreign direct investment. The Netherlands is a case in point. It has a scheme along the lines of SARP but it is far more generous in its provisions. I introduced SARP, in its present format, in 2012. I did so as a result...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I decided to come to the Dáil for an extension of the scheme, not to amend it. I am aware of the views expressed in that letter. Similar views were expressed to me directly by representatives of the aircraft leasing industry but I do not think the case was strong enough to make the alterations that were being requested. A lot of the time in these matters, it is a matter of judgment....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Section 832A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides limited relied from income tax for individuals who travel in order to expand the export of Irish goods and services into non-traditional markets. This section of the Bill amends section 823A of the Act to provide for changes announced in the budget. The changes are that the section is extended such that it will continue to apply for...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The minimum number of days required to be spent abroad is being reduced from 40 days to 30 days per annum as many smaller companies may not be in a position to have employees away from the workplace for effectively eight weeks per year. Reducing the minimum number of days should mean that smaller companies are more easily able to avail of the scheme. That is my advice.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: When the scheme was introduced in 2012 travel to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was included. The first extension of eligible countries was into 2013 and it included travel to Algeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. These countries were included in order to further encourage the development of export markets by...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The original list of countries was driven by the consideration that those BRIC countries were growing strongly at the time. We are a small country. Effectively, we live by trade. We are more open to trade than most economies of our size. We are trying to provide an incentive to people to develop new markets. Initially, the consideration was that the countries listed in the first tranche...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: A variety of factors are at play when markets develop for Irish exports. It is rather difficult to attribute anything to one particular scheme and to claim that because a particular scheme was in place, exports to Pakistan have quadrupled in the past three years. The scheme did not apply to Pakistan at that stage, but that line of argument is difficult to sustain. The total cost of the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Pearse Doherty's argument is that the start-your-own-business relief scheme should be amended to make it available over four years rather than two, that it should provide relief on taxable profits up to €20,000 rather than €40,000 per annum and that it should be extended to new businesses which commence before 31 December 2020, two years longer than that proposed in the...