Results 9,261-9,280 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland Supervision (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 81 to 83, inclusive, together. As I stated previously in a reply to a question regarding this issue on 20 June the Government has no formal role in the commercial decisions of the banks as to their future business model and whether or not they will close particular branches.  While I regret the closure of any bank branches, the Deputy will...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is the responsibility of regulated financial service providers in the first instance to satisfy themselves that the contracts they enter into with consumers are compliant with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements A key legal provision is the EC (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations 1995 (as amended). These Regulations apply to any term in a contract...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector Regulation (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The NAMA Act 2009 introduced Section 396C of the Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA 1997).  The purpose of the section was to restrict NAMA participating institutions in offsetting their losses against a maximum of 50% of their taxable profits in a given year. At the time, the Government had a limited role in the banking system. However, by the introduction of the second...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Vehicle Registration (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed by Revenue that the leaflet referred to specifies that to qualify for exemption from VRT on transfer of residence to Ireland “you must have had possession of and have actually used the vehicle outside the State for at least 6 months before your transfer to Ireland” and “you must bring the vehicle into the State within 12 months of the date of your transfer...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Motor Insurance Regulation (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, my predecessor as Minister for Finance,Michael Noonan T.D., established the Cost of Insurance Working Group in 2016, as part of a Departmental review of policy in the insurance sector, in consultation with the Central Bank and other Departments and Agencies. The Working Group, which is now chaired by Minister of State Michael D’Arcy T.D., is examining the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised that Revenue measures the tax debt for all years at 31 March each year. At 31 March 2017 the total tax debt was €1,944m. The debt included tax that was subject to appeal before the Tax Appeals Commission (€1,105million) and tax that was subject to insolvency proceedings (€83million) and therefore not available for collection by Revenue. Of the remaining...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the universal social charge is a tax charge on income, for which no social welfare benefits accrue. The PRSI charge, both employee and employer, generally confers rights to certain social welfare benefits when the necessary number of contributions have been made. These charges have significantly different bases and any merging of them would require a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Bullying in the Workplace (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am satisfied that an anti-bullying policy is in place in the Department of Finance and Bodies under the Aegis of my Department.  The Department is guided by the Dignity at Work (the anti-bullying, harassment and sexual harassment) Policy for the Civil Service which was revised by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and came into effect in February 2015.  This Policy...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The information requested by the Deputy is not held in the Department of Finance. Officials in the Department have referred the information request to the banks and have received the following feedback: AIB: “AIB is fully compliant with the Loan-to-Value (LTV) and Loan-to-Income (LTI) limits set by the Central Bank of Ireland. All applications are subject to normal lending criteria,...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Help-To-Buy Scheme Data (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Help to Buy incentive aims to both assist those first-time buyers struggling to save for the deposit required to purchase a house, as well as incentivising additional building and the provision of extra housing stock. At Budget time it was estimated that the Help to Buy incentive would cost €40 million per annum but €50 million in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Collection Forecasts (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I assume that the Deputy is referring to a recent Circuit Court decision regarding the tax treatment of the transfer of share rights from a company to its shareholders. In 2011, Revenue’s Large Cases Division identified a number of instances where taxpayers had structured their tax affairs in such a way that they had extracted large amounts of cash from profitable trading companies...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: NAMA Portfolio (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I would firstly refer the Deputy to page 46 of NAMA's recently published 2016 Annual Report. The report contains a significant amount of information on NAMA's remaining loan book and upcoming plans.  NAMA's 2016 Annual Report can be accessed via: As per page 46 of the 2016 NAMA Annual Report, the outstanding principal balance of NAMA’s loans and receivables portfolio...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland Supervision (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Under Part IIIC of the Central Bank Act 1942, the Central Bank may hold an inquiry to determine whether or not a financial service provider is committing or has committed a prescribed contravention.  The Central Bank may also hold an inquiry to determine whether or not a person concerned in the management of a regulated financial service provider is participating or has participated in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Arising from the agreement of the Minister at the Report Stage of the Finance Act, 2016 to consider the tax treatment of solar panels on farmland, an Interdepartmental Group was established to consider the issues involved. This work is ongoing and I expect the Group to report to me with its recommendations soon, which will allow me to consider the matter in the context of Budget 2018/Finance...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Banking Sector (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the State last week sold 25% of AIB's ordinary share capital at a price of €4.40 per share for consideration of almost €3 billion. The State also granted an additional over-allotment option over a further 3.75% of AIB's ordinary share capital as part of this transaction. This transaction was strongly supported by a broad range of international...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Treaties (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Ireland signed the Multilateral Instrument (commonly referred as to the MLI) on behalf of Ireland on June 7. Ireland was one of 76 countries that participated in the signing ceremony in Paris with 67 of those countries signing the MLI. The purpose of the MLI is to enable existing tax treaties to be modified in order to implement the tax treaty-related measures that were agreed as...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: NAMA Operations (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware of my response to Parliamentary Question 246 of 20 June 2017 regarding the same topic. In that response I explained that NAMA is required, under Section 10 of the NAMA Act 2009, to obtain the best financial return from its acquired loans. I also explained in my previous response that, among the measures adopted to achieve this statutory objective, NAMA enters...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Motor Insurance Regulation (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by the Liquidator of Setanta that the actuarial report the Deputy is referring to is in the process of being commissioned. Consequently, the Liquidator does not currently have a timeline for its completion but he anticipates that he should have a clearer picture on this matter shortly. This actuarial report will update the 2014 report  carried out by Towers...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that responsibility for initiatives to protect the family home is spread across several Government Departments and therefore, I will confine my response to the issues that come under my direct responsibility. Within the remit of the Central Bank’s responsibilities for safeguarding stability and protecting consumers, its approach to mortgage arrears...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Loan Books Purchasers (29 Jun 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy will be aware, the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act, 2015 was enacted in July 2015.  It was introduced by the previous Government to fill the consumer protection gap where loans were sold by the original lender to an unregulated firm.  The Act introduced a regulatory regime for a new type of entity called a 'credit servicing firm'. ...