Results 7,141-7,160 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: We will do our best to provide more detail. I have given my view on the lack of progress on mortgage arrears. The Chairman stated the banks will come before the committee shortly and the Deputy will not upset me if he presses them hard on these issues. The Central Bank made clear its position that setting out the portfolio of interventions would be of benefit, suitable and appropriate and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Sometimes, I wonder what people are up to when they ask such questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Mention was made of the austerity-only approach of Christine Lagarde. There are two sides to economics, namely, supply and demand. Recent work done by the IMF, the report of which members have seen, gave rise to a great deal of comment. The IMF was referring to a wider range of countries than just Ireland. The simple analysis of the IMF paper is that, if one removes €1 in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: That is a precise figure and I did not see the basis for the calculation. As a general principle, if Revenue does not have sufficient resources to do the job it is asked to do, there will be a loss of revenue. I cannot second guess the precision of its estimate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I do not believe that we needed a paper from Jackson Hole to illustrate what every man in every pub and what every woman going to the First Friday knows. If one is in debt one does not have money to spend and is, as an economic unit, weaker.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: The same principle applies, be it personal, corporate, sovereign or other debt.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: We all know the Deputy's place is stuffed with money and he has no debts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Arrangements such as career breaks and so on come within the remit of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. That Minister makes the rules in this regard, which apply across the service. Civil servants in the Department of Finance are as entitled as other civil servants to avail of any such scheme. I suggest the Deputy take up that matter with the Minister for Public Expenditure...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: No. I have already provided the costings in that regard by way of response to a parliamentary question tabled by the Deputy. Consultancy costs vary. Where the required expertise is not available in-house, a consultant is engaged. The Department is dealing with enormous amounts of money and huge issues. Departments are by and large composed of generalists rather than people with refined...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Higgins is a bit of an enigma to me always. I was schooled in a politics which suggested that people on the left, particularly socialists, would be in favour of taxes on assets such as property.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I believe property tax was always part of the portfolio coming from the socialist background.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I do not understand Deputy Higgins's particular brand of ideology. The announcement and detail of the property tax will be provided on budget day. On the financial transaction tax-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: All the details will be provided on budget day, including on the household charge. As I explained twice already-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: -----the Government has not yet made decisions on these matters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: As I said, decisions on these matters have not yet been made. After they are taken they will be announced on budget day.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: What is extraordinary about it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: Does the Deputy want an answer on the financial transaction tax? What is being proposed in Europe, so far, is a form of stamp duty starting at 0.1% on certain transactions. We have a stamp duty on share transactions already so we are one of the few countries in Europe with a significant financial transaction tax. Our stamp duty is at 1%. In the United Kingdom there is a stamp duty of 0.5%...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: I have been through Terminal 2 on a number of occasions and I love to see a big crowd there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure - Finance Vote Group: Discussion with Minister for Finance (17 Oct 2012)

Michael Noonan: With regard to the promissory note, if there is a resolution before the budget and there are some deficit gains, it will not lessen the adjustment required. We would have a lower deficit figure next year.