Results 3,821-3,840 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The consensus is that Mr. Trethowan's small group of staff provide a useful service that is perhaps inadequate for the global task. I want to explore two matters with him.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes. I am not being critical. I am trying to give an overview. Does Mr. Trethowan have a view about extending the office's powers? Should its regulatory function be strengthened and given mandatory powers? Obviously the committee seems to agree that the powers of the office could be improved, that it should have more discretion and that its hand should be strengthened. Can he briefly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I shall make a counter-argument. If anybody imagined that the recession, the crisis, the slump - call it what one will - would be short term, we have all been enlightened in that regard. For any borrower, particularly in the SME sector, the review mechanism is a valuable permanent arrangement. As Deputy Mathews has said, the State is bound up with the banking sector in a way that was not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I was present when Mr. Trethowan said that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I heard him say it. With all due respect, his comment reinforces my point rather than his. My second question comes from a slightly different angle. Other Credit Review Office activities during the quarter have been itemised. Mr. Trethowan has also met the troika. Can he tell us about the meeting? What was the agenda? What was the purpose of the meeting with the troika?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: What did Mr. Trethowan tell them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: We have also met the troika on a number of occasions. I shall give my take on them. While they listened politely to concerns about demand in the economy and the fact that the domestic economy is flat as a pancake, I walked away with the view that either they did not really understand the significance of that or they were not terribly bothered by it. It certainly was not on their list of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Access to Credit Provision: Discussion with Credit Review Office (20 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Are they well aware of the demand dilemma and the lack of demand in the economy?

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Trade Relations (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will detail in monetary value the volume of trade carried out between the north and south of Ireland by sector for the past five years. [9043/13]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Upward Only Rent Reviews (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in view of the damage done to the economy and small business in particular by the continued operation of upward only rent clauses, if he will direct agencies under his Department to remove such clauses from within leases to which the agency is the lessor. [9053/13]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Members might recall that when Ms Geraldine Tallon appeared before the committee I raised the issue of a public private partnership, PPP, relating to a water project in Cork. In the course of that discussion it emerged that, on balance, the analysis of the awarding of that contract showed that it would have been more effective for it not to have gone the PPP route. I asked for some...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Thank you, Chairman.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome Ms Feehily and her colleagues. I am sure she is aware that there are very many tax-compliant citizens who regard this not as a just or fair measure but as a sort of Big Brother tax and an unfair imposition on them. I note Ms Feehily was amused by the story in the media about GPS data and the notion of Revenue officials hovering overhead taking satellite photographs of homes. Most...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The crucial point is that it is a deferral, not a waiver, and persons on jobseeker's allowance are still fully liable for the tax, albeit at a later point in time.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Ms Feehily set out those options?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: What are they?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: May I just say-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That of course-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I understand, I am just simply trying to ascertain what faces the individual who, for whatever reason, is not in a position or chooses not to file a return. The witness has said the Revenue will deduct at source. Presumably that means there will be contact with the person's employer-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----and the sum will be deducted as though it were a PAYE payment. Attachment orders to bank accounts have been mentioned. Will the witness explain how that happens? Does Revenue contact the financial institution concerned, AIB, Bank of Ireland, and assess that the person has a deposit account?