Results 4,981-5,000 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Written Answers — Inter-Agency Procurement Group: Inter-Agency Procurement Group (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: An inter-agency procurement group, chaired by my Department, was established in late 2004 and began working in 2005 to determine how best to procure digital radio for the Irish public service, and most particularly the emergency and security services. The group spent the first part of 2005 considering a range of options, including the possibility of the public service building a digital...

Written Answers — Taxation Policy: Taxation Policy (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: Taxation, as I have previously stated, can play a part in attaining environment objectives which include promoting energy efficiency and reducing emissions. In this regard, the current National Climate Change Strategy does envisage initiatives in the tax area with one such example being tax reliefs for "green initiatives". Essentially this approach uses the tax system to provide incentives...

Written Answers — Special Savings Incentive Scheme: Special Savings Incentive Scheme (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the tax arising on maturing SSIA accounts, in respect of accounts maturing in May, June, July, August and September 2006, was €99.3m. My Department currently expects that the total exit tax accruing to the Exchequer from the maturing of all SSIAs will be approximately €400 million over the period 2006-2007. However, the exact value of the...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: Because of the nature of the programme it is not possible at this stage to estimate the number of public servants who do not wish to relocate as individual circumstances are open to change and therefore figures can fluctuate. The picture will become clearer over the coming period as staff are assigned to decentralising organisations. The primary mechanism for placing civil servants who are in...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the most recent basic data on incomes available from which information of the type requested by the Deputy could be derived are in respect of the income tax year 2003. The information requested is set out in the following tables for the income tax years 2000/01, 2001 “short” year, 2002 and 2003. However, because of the Revenue...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: The position is that charities and non-profit groups engaged in non-commercial activity are exempt from VAT under the EU Sixth VAT Directive, with which Irish VAT law must comply. This means they do not charge VAT on the services they provide and cannot recover VAT incurred on goods and services that they purchase. Essentially only VAT registered businesses which charge VAT are able to...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: The court has not yet made its ruling in the case and therefore it is best at this stage to await the ruling and examine it fully before commenting any further.

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: I reject entirely the assertion that the indirect tax system has a disproportionate effect on those on lower incomes. A simple look at the facts will show that the conclusions in the report are misdirected. Firstly, there is no VAT on the main low income items such as food, oral medicines, childrens' shoes and clothing. Secondly, most excise revenue (60%) comes from excises on petrol, diesel...

Written Answers — Investor Compensation Scheme: Investor Compensation Scheme (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: The total number of claims received by the Investor Compensation Company Limited (ICCL) by clients of this firm was 2,626. Of these, 2,099 clients have received compensation, which represents 80% of the firm's clients. Claims for compensation were rejected in 273 cases, i.e. 10% of the overall total. A further 254 claims remain to be finalised. The reports that about half of the firm's...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: I do not agree with the view that the VAT system is inherently regressive. In fact, every effort is made, as far as EU law will permit, to reduce the incidence of VAT on low incomes. The position is that VAT rates are applied in accordance with the rules and rating structures provided for under the Sixth VAT Directive. It is EU law, agreed by all Member States, that defines the scope for...

Written Answers — Financial Services Regulation: Financial Services Regulation (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: Regulatory inspections are the responsibility of the Registrar of Credit Unions under the Credit Union Act, 1997. My Department has been advised that arising out of governance difficulties in the credit union in question and the failure of the board to resolve these difficulties through an arbitration process initiated by the Registrar, authorised officers from an outside specialist firm were...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: Under the stamp duty code, liability to duty mainly arises where there is a conveyance or transfer of the legal title to certain property. It is the instrument of conveyance that is liable to stamp duty and it requires having a "stamp" impressed thereon. The rates of stamp duty that are applicable to various instruments are set out in Schedule 1 to Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999....

Written Answers — Tax Collection: Tax Collection (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: I outlined to the House on 18 October 2006, in response to a previous question, that the Revenue Commissioners are conducting a review of licensed aerodromes and it is being dealt with as a priority matter. I also stated at that time that the review was likely to take approximately six weeks to complete. I have now been informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the review is on target and...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: The position is that since 1997, the income tax policies pursued by this Government have resulted in more low-paid earners being outside the tax net than ever before. There are now over 776,000 income earners (about 36% of all earners) who are completely out of the tax net compared with about 380,000 (about 25% of all earners) ten years ago. In 1997 there was not even a statutory minimum...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: Discussions have concluded with the civil service unions on a number of human resource and industrial relations matters, including staff transfer protocols, and in the main these are working well. To date decentralising organisations have established a presence in 12 new locations and at the end of October 2006, over 2,300 staff have been assigned to decentralising posts. These are...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: Section 50 of the Finance Act 2004 provided for the introduction of a limited scheme of relief from excise tax for biofuels. Under the Scheme, full 100% excise relief was granted to successful applicants to the scheme from August 2005 for a total of 16 million litres of fuel at a cost of €3m per annum over 2 years. The number of applications made for relief from excise duty under the...

Written Answers — Tribunals of Inquiry: Tribunals of Inquiry (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: In so far as my Department is concerned, no statutory Tribunals have been initiated over the past 20 years. My Department does not have the detailed information sought by the Deputy on the briefs of the various Tribunals over the past 20 years across the relevant Departments. My Department does, however, monitor spending by the State on Tribunals, Inquiries and Commissions of Investigation....

Written Answers — Public Private Partnerships: Public Private Partnerships (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: The PPP approach has the potential to offer value for money and timely delivery of infrastructure when applied to projects of the right scale, risk and operational profile. There has been good progress on PPPs overall since the first group of pilot projects were announced in 1999 notwithstanding the challenges involved in adopting this relatively complex form of procurement. The process is...

Written Answers — Special Savings Incentive Scheme: Special Savings Incentive Scheme (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the SSIA scheme commenced in May 2001 and in excess of 1 million SSIA's were opened by the closing date of 30th April 2002. The scheme itself is administered by the financial institutions under the guidance of the Revenue Commissioners. Comprehensive guidelines, setting out the manner in which the scheme must be administered, were drawn up by...

Written Answers — Special Savings Incentive Scheme: Special Savings Incentive Scheme (22 Nov 2006)

Brian Cowen: The SSIA scheme opened on 1 May 2001 and entry to the scheme closed on 30 April 2002. A total of 1,170,208 SSIAs were opened during this period. 86,569 SSIAs were ceased in the period 30 April 2002 to 31 December 2005. These SSIAs were ceased either by the individual themselves or by Revenue for breaches of SSIA rules. The vast majority of SSIAs were ceased by individuals that no longer...