Results 9,521-9,540 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a matter for the banks. I have asked my team to give me the most up-to-date figures available to us. The figures I have just provided are the most up-to-date available to me. I mention them because the starting point - the number of loans private equity firms have in the State which relate to units in which people actually live - is much lower than some indicate, but the position...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: They will not be unregulated by virtue of this legislation. They are regulated in this way. I am using the phrase "private equity firms". I will keep a close eye on how these companies and units operate because I want to ensure they are respecting their commitments to people. The loans to which we are referring are contingent on what happens to people's homes, of which I am always aware....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I never said I was not concerned. In fact, I said the very opposite. I indicated that I was keenly aware that somebody's home was the backup for his or her loan. I understand that. I have dealt with as many people as the Senator who are in intense mortgage distress or living in a property the ownership of which is changing. I am as aware as anybody else in the House of the human face of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Senator for her encouragement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In response to the questions about dealing with the level of arrears and potential repossessions, for 15 consecutive quarters the level of mortgage arrears has come down. We want to do all we reasonably can to ensure people stay in their homes or properties. The number of repossessions was unchanged in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Lest there be any risk my comments will be misinterpreted by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We are legally obliged to respond to the objectives set within the country specific recommendation. The Government has latitude in deciding how we should do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Our mid-term fiscal forecasts have been endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council as being inside the range of what it judges to be permissible and realistic. The ESRI is an independent body which offers its views on how the Department, the Government and the economy are performing and I respect them. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council assesses whether our fiscal forecasts are inside a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The forecasting model used by my Department is as accurate as such models can be. If we have learned anything in regard to predictive models within the economy, it is that open economies are sophisticated, change quickly and have many moving parts. When discussing growth forecasts, I use approximate figures that are liable to change or are inside a certain range. Whether it be my own...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The work-out of issues relating to AIB, the sale of its shares the week before last and other measures I have recently taken indicate what a landmark moment the sale of the shares was in terms of the State trying to get money back for its support of the banking system in the past. On the financial services committee report and its suggestions on non-performing loans, it is offering four...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It will take a significant period. For the foreseeable future, the framework within which these matters will be dealt is the Irish law constructs I have outlined. The existing policy will be used to resolve these types of matters. There is plenty of debate and negotiation ahead in regard to these European issues. That said, we will engage constructively in that process. The development...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Discussions and negotiations on these rules or other matters are constantly under way. On capital expenditure, the one area of caution we need to be aware of is that as money becomes available to our economy, we need to make sure that we release it back into our economy in a way that is genuinely sustainable for everybody. I will give the Senator an example of what I mean by that before we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The fiscal rules make sure that if we borrow money, we are capable of repaying it and that it will not have any other adverse effects on our economy. Fiscal rules or not, that is what I will want to do anyway. To emphasise the point, I am saying that I also want to look at how we can deliver new forms of capital investment. All of this comes with a caveat in terms of the direction we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We will double it over a seven year period. By 2021, with no further change, we will be investing €7.3 billion in capital investment in our country. The highest point we ever got to was €9 billion and look what happened after that. We need to be very careful about making money available in a way that delivers the investment the Senator is talking about. I make that point...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am sorry. I understand the reason the Senator is asking the question. When I said "consumer", I meant the person who would purchase the good before they would normally sell it on again. A better word to use might have been "intermediary", for example, a retailer, a wholesaler or somebody who is selling a good or a service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will come back to the Senator on that point because this is something one country wants to trial. We believe the current way in which we operate our VAT system works. We believe it is a very sensible safeguard against fraud and that it is well implemented. However, our colleagues, particularly in the Czech Republic, may well have a different way of collecting VAT from us, and this change...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The point of difference in all of this is probably the way the system operates in the Czech Republic. They were eager to see if there was a new way of collecting VAT versus what they are currently doing. We believe our system is working well. This was a change they were looking to trial in their country.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: No. I do not plan to raise that because the fiscal rules indicate clearly that we need to use the sale of that asset to reduce our debt. That is due to the way the credit worthiness of our country is calculated. It does not differentiate between a share in a bank and our balance sheet and funding the Government may hold. The European bodies that calculate the credit worthiness of a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: There are other sources of funding open to us that will allow us to do it.