Results 2,981-3,000 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: I am answering the question.
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: I am. I have outlined the methodologiesââ
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: The Deputy does not want to hear my reply.
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: A total of 10% of revenues were expected to come from the tax headings mentioned by the Deputy but they made up 13% of total revenues. When one considers that total revenues are more than â¬42 billion, it gives an indication of what forecasting involves.
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: Nonsense.
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: I did look at them. This is nonsense.
- Tax Yield. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: I am sorry but we are building and selling more houses than expected. Is the Deputy saying it should be done for nothing?
- Public Expenditure. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: Estimated end year total gross spending by Departments was approximately â¬45.1 billion in 2005, an increase of â¬3.9 billion or 9.5% over 2004. The end year outturn for gross spending by Departments was â¬225 million less than the original 2005 estimate adjusted to take account of certain Health Service Executive spending. The increase in spending in 2005 over 2004 represented the costs...
- Public Expenditure. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: If there is any chopping and changing, I have just heard it from the Deputy. On the one hand she accuses me of underspending in one year and, on the other, she tells me I am spending too much in the next year. The bottom line is that last year the total Exchequer spend was â¬35.467 billion. There was an underspend of â¬225 million, when all the headings are taken into account, as well as a...
- Public Expenditure. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: I refute all those political assertions because they have no foundation in fact. I remind the Deputy once again that we had a deficit last year of â¬499 million so I do not know where I am supposed to be storing up this money. Thankfully, due to the extraordinary continued growth in our economy and the employment we are creating, the deficit was â¬1.75 billion less than was expected, which...
- Financial Services Regulation. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: The Credit Union Act 1997 provides the legal framework for the regulation of credit unions. The Act was designed to provide the credit union movement with a regulatory structure that reflected and promoted the particular ethos and philosophy of the credit union movement, its strong tradition of volunteer service and the core objective of providing opportunities for saving and lending for...
- Financial Services Regulation. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: A number of general points need to be made in response to the Deputy's questions. Significant funds are held in the credit unions and we all agree that a regulatory framework is required to deal with them. When we consider the investment issues for credit unions and how we can proceed, in the light of the high proportion of credit union assets now invested, the registrar has highlighted that...
- Financial Services Regulation. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: The Deputy asked for my plans to review and amend the Credit Union Act 1997 in order to lift the current operating restrictions being encountered by the Irish League of Credit Unions.
- Financial Services Regulation. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: Those matters are all being considered through the various mechanisms I have discussed and will be forwarded to the Credit Union Advisory Committee for further consideration. One must balance the question of what is prudential, what is the right allocation of risk, what is the right risk to take on, given the nature of the institutions concerned and the amounts of money involved while at the...
- Construction Industry Review. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that establishing employee or subcontractor status is one of the areas they specifically concentrate on in their monitoring of tax compliance in the construction sector. On an ongoing basis, Revenue auditors, based on risk assessment, audit the books and records of a considerable number of contractors and subcontractors. The matter of employee to...
- Construction Industry Review. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: There is no complacency on my part or on the part of the Revenue Commissioners. The Finance Bill 2006 proposes a number of changes in relation to the legislation governing the administration of relevant contracts tax aimed at tightening control and discouraging fraud. First, the Bill provides a statutory basis for the limit that the Revenue currently applies administratively on the amount of...
- Construction Industry Review. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: As I said, in what I thought was quite an informative reply, audits of the construction sector in 2004 yielded â¬57 million, or 10% of the total audit yield. Nearly 20% of the audit programme was devoted to the sector. The yield for 2005 up to October was â¬73 million. An in-depth investigation on projects in the east and south-east region showed three persons out of 500 were misclassified...
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: The actual selection and designation process for areas to be designated under the town renewal scheme is a matter primarily for local authorities and an independent expert advisory panel set up by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I understand that in accordance with the Town Renewal Act 2000 and the 1999 Guidelines on the Town Renewal Scheme, the designation of...
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: The only way in which I may be able to help the Deputy is to clarify that section 372AB of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides that the Minister for Finance can revoke or amend an order. To date, amendments have been made to three designation orders, two of which were for the town renewal scheme and the third of which was for the urban renewal scheme. All the amendments related to...
- Decentralisation Programme. (28 Feb 2006)
Brian Cowen: Under the decentralisation programme announced by Government in December 2003 up to 131 staff of my Department are due to decentralise to Tullamore from July 2006 and 33 staff are due to decentralise to Kildare. The number of staff in my Department who have chosen to move to Tullamore within the decentralising business units is ten. A further nine staff from my Department have chosen to move,...