Results 5,141-5,160 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: It is not like wind energy. The big problem with wind energy is that when the wind stops blowing the base supply must be got back into but with the tide constantly coming and going, the turbines keep turning. The idea would be to install entire farms of these turbines under water. They are environmentally friendly and they do not make any noise. It looks like a great idea and is an Irish...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Senator knows it. The first three are going in along that coastline. That might be something we could do because we have no shortage of the tide coming and going here. While we are telling each other anecdotes, those of us who like to go swimming have been watching the tides since we were children. Do Senators know that the tide works like a pendulum? In the first hour it comes in at...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: As I said, the incentivisation of research and development is part of the package of attractions that many countries use to attract inward investment. The research and development credit in France is 50%, for example. Ours is 25%. We are not leading the race. The patent royalty exemption was abolished last year by my predecessor. The limits on qualifying outsourced research and...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: Section 68 confirms the increase introduced in the budget in the carbon tax component of mineral oil tax on petrol and auto diesel. The effect of the budget change was to increase the carbon tax for those fuels from €15 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted to €20 per tonne. When VAT is included the increase on petrol amounts to just under 1.5 cent per litre and just over 1.5 cent per...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: The Senators raised a number of issues. On budget day the average litre of petrol cost €1.50, and then various people who opposed both the carbon tax and the increase in VAT in the budget made exaggerated claims of how much that contributed to increases in the price of a litre of petrol or diesel. It would reinforce one's views of the need to examine the teaching of mathematics in the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: I heard a very well-known representative of the motor industry claim on RTE that the VAT increase had driven the price of a litre up to €1.60. Two per cent of €1.50 is €0.03, which does not result in an increase to €1.60. One can calculate this for oneself. Many of those who did not want the increases campaigned on the basis that all increases to the prices of diesel and petrol...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: No. Is that to do with the Green Party or has there been a wider mood change? Fianna Fáil was a great advocate of protecting the environment and combating global warming until very recently.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: Perhaps that is why the commitment to increase the tax on a tonne of carbon emitted was included in the memorandum of understanding with the EU authorities. As a matter of fact, the commitment was for an increase of €10 per tonne. Since there was a VAT increase, I reduced this to €5 per tonne in the budget. Irrespective of our jokes on the misfortune of the Green Party, which is no...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: It would be very easy if one removed the subsidies to the farming industry and all other beneficiaries. One would simply price everything at the market price. We do not want to do that for economic reasons. The subsidies make a very valuable contribution. Where there is a subsidisation scheme targeting certain sectors of the economy, there are different prices. The only way around it is...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: I will get information for Senator Ó Clochartaigh on the total tax take on a litre of diesel and a litre of petrol. I do not have such information to hand at present. In response to Senator Darragh O'Brien's query, there has been a reduction in the draw-down of fuels in the first two months of the year. The figure for petrol has reduced by approximately 6% in the first two months of the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: The proposed administration charge of €500 is necessary to defray the costs of development and ongoing administration required for the efficient operation of the export refund scheme. The fee will enable development costs to be recouped as quickly as possible to minimise the burden on the taxpayer. In other countries, for example, Denmark, where a similar scheme exists, an administrative...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: Section 87 confirms the increase in the standard rate of VAT from 21% to 23% with effect from 1 January 2012. The standard VAT rate was increased in the budget to focus revenue raising on indirect taxation, which has a less adverse impact on economic activity and employment than income tax. The VAT increase is also in line with commitments made in the programme for Government and by the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: They are my flying column.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: I will deal first with the recommendations at face value even though I gather from Senator Barrett's remarks that they have been tabled for the purpose of debate on wider issues. Recommendation No. 21 would reduce the health insurance levy payable by health insurers in respect of health insurance policies for individuals aged 60 and over from €285 to €95. I presume the intention is to...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: This section amends section 89 of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003. That section provides that only 10% of the value of agricultural property taken by a farmer as defined is taken into account in calculating gift or inheritance tax in respect of such property. A farmer for this purpose means an individual at least 80% of whose assets consist of agricultural property after...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: I accept the principle enunciated by the Senator that there should be an equivalence under tax law between persons who are in civil partnership and married persons. If there are any anomalies in the law, we will move to amend them on the next appropriate occasion. My difficulty with the recommendation is that I have been advised that what is proposed is already in the law and is therefore...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: We will try to clarify the issues.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: As is regularly stated in replies to parliamentary questions, the Revenue Commissioners operate a principle of proportionality. When they are assessing proposals such as that made by the Senator, the yield from implementing the proposal would have to be more than the cost of implementing it. To date they consider that imposing a requirement on everybody to make a tax return would have a...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2012 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: It could impose a big burden on ordinary PAYE workers. I had a conversation with the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners on this issue. I was suggesting, in the first instance, that anybody with an income in excess of a certain amount, such as €70,000 per annum, would be required to make a tax return. We might see where we were going if we did it that way. It probably would not be a...

Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (27 Mar 2012)

Michael Noonan: I wish to share my time with Deputies Corcoran Kennedy and Spring. I thank Deputy Michael McGrath for proposing this important Bill, for his obviously thorough preparation and the presentations made by him and his colleagues tonight. Before I deal with the specifics of the Bill, I will emphasise the important role played by the Financial Services Ombudsman. The Irish Financial Services...