Results 9,861-9,880 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 (Certified Money Bill): Second Stage (20 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: It will be this year. I thank the Senators for their comments during what has been an interesting and informed debate today. I am sorry that I was not here for the whole debate but the Minister of State from my Department, Deputy Brian Hayes, substituted and left me some notes. This Finance Bill marks another step on our journey to economic recovery. As the Minister of State noted earlier...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy will be aware that on 13 March 2013 the Central Bank announced new measures to address mortgage arrears, including the publication of performance targets for the main mortgage banks and a consultation process on changes to the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, CCMA. This new approach is aimed at ensuring banks offer and conclude sustainable solutions for their customers in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: The banks do not have a veto and will engage with persons who have impaired mortgages in a number of different circumstances, which of course, they do already. There will be face-to-face informal contact between banks and persons with impaired mortgages, which can take the form of speaking to the bank manager or the person who arranged the mortgage in the first instance. Although this is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: With regard to the role of the Central Bank, as well as establishing the blueprint, which it announced last Wednesday, and laying out the timescale over which impaired mortgages will be dealt with until the position is resolved, it will also supervise and monitor the arrangements being made by individual banks with mortgage holders. It will take a representative sample of the arrangements...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: If one is developed by the statutory agency, the Deputy is right to say that it should apply universally.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bank Staff Remuneration (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: When publishing the Review of Remuneration Practices and Frameworks at the Covered Institutions, on 12 March 2013, I indicated that the Government had formed the view that with the remaining covered institutions still incurring losses it was an inescapable conclusion that the cost base of the institutions needs to be reduced further. This is essential if they are to return to profitability,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bank Staff Remuneration (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: The issue of bankers' pay and bonuses is a fraught one, both in Ireland and other jurisdictions. It is only two weeks since the Capital Requirements, or CRD IV, Directive from Europe was under discussion. The UK authorities were pushing in the opposite direction to allow much higher bonuses than would prevail in any other jurisdiction. Around the same time there was a referendum in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bank Staff Remuneration (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: First, Mr. Boucher's pay and conditions were set out by the previous Government and the previous Minister for Finance and I inherited them as a matter of contract. As I stated, the Government is a minority shareholder, as it was fortunate enough to attract private investment from Canada and the United States into the bank. The Deputy will notice that since the private investment came in,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bank Staff Remuneration (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: This is another example of how, because he is a former Fianna Fáil Minister, the Deputy wants to hang him in public.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bank Staff Remuneration (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: Everything I know about him suggests he is a good director and a decent man. Why pillory him here in the House for the sake of a cheap headline?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that no complaint has been formally brought to their attention by the European Commission regarding the matter raised by the Deputy. The Revenue Commissioners have received a copy of the complaint that appears on the website of the entity named by the Deputy, which mentions anti-competitive practices and policies relating to the Minister for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: I wish to point out that to be treated as a public body for VAT purposes, a body must be established as such by enactment. In this context, since neither of the entities mentioned by the Deputy is a body established by an enactment, they cannot be afforded the VAT status of a public body. This appears to answer the Deputy's question.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy will find this response to be highly unsatisfactory, as do I, but the answer I have to hand is that the provisions of section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 are designed to protect taxpayer confidentiality and they preclude the Revenue Commissioners from providing taxpayer-specific information to third parties, including the Minister for Finance. The Deputy might think...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Liquidation (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: I have been informed there are a number of deposit accounts not entitled to full compensation under the deposit guarantee scheme, DGS, or the eligible liabilities guarantee, ELG, scheme or both due to the nature of the products or deposit options in which those account holders invested. These include investments by credit unions and other fixed deposit holders. The proceeds from the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Liquidation (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: First, the Deputy may be interested in the type of investment product into which they had put their money. It was called the Anglo Irish Bank Credit Union Bond 2005 and my understanding of this bond is that it was an equity-linked bond, marketed exclusively to credit unions by Anglo Irish Bank private bankers in 2005. This bond was never covered by the eligible liabilities guarantee. It...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Liquidation (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: Some of them have €1 million in.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy will be aware that last week the Central Bank announced new measures to address mortgage arrears, including the publication of performance targets for the main mortgage banks and proposed changes to the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, CCMA. The consultation paper on the review of the CCMA includes a number of proposals intended to clarify and strengthen the resolution process...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: Our view is that the best way to move forward is on a case by case basis, where lenders and borrowers come to an equitable and sustainable arrangement. That is done in the first instance under the monitoring systems of the Central Bank. As I said to Deputy Michael McGrath earlier, the Central Bank will sample the restructured cases to ensure the system is operating satisfactorily. In...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: My personal opinion is that it is not that the banks were not acting on this over the last two years or so but that many of the solutions put forward were not sustainable. At the end of December, for example, there was a total stock of 79,852 mortgage accounts that were categorised as restructured. Of these restructured accounts, 42,037 were not in arrears. The arrangement appears to have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (21 Mar 2013)

Michael Noonan: I cannot speak for Mr. Elderfield. He is an independent regulator and I cannot put words in his mouth.