Results 1,161-1,180 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: Perhaps the Minister is able to justify it, but I have had the best of tax layers contact me today explaining this in detail.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Second Stage (9 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: We will leave it for the Finance Bill. The Fine Gael proposal to abolish the 8.5% of employers PRSI was a better proposal than the abolition of the minimum wage. We capped that at around the total minimum wage and it would mean €30 to an employer taking on somebody. That is a more just incentive than reducing the minimum wage. The employer is worried about the cost of the job and if an...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: I support the amendment. The case Deputy Penrose makes has considerable merit. As a case has not been made for reducing the minimum wage, my party will oppose section 13. Notwithstanding its opposition, if the legislation is passed by virtue of the Government exercising its majority, it is important that the measure does not have unforeseen consequences. This is the issue the Deputy's...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (14 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: Question 87: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the position of a special needs assistant at a school (details supplied) in County Limerick is to be terminated from December 2010; if she will have the matter examined with a view to reversing the decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47033/10]

Order of Business (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: It is for Two-Mile Borris.

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: The Minister of State is out of touch.

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: He was boasting about how wealthy we were as a country.

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: They speak of nothing else but Fine Gael in Brussels.

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: He knows more about Fine Gael than most of the lads in the party.

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: Send in an application form.

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: The Minister of State, Deputy Dick Roche, has made the same mistake as all former bureaucrats. He confuses the bureaucracy with the Council of Ministers. The decisions on the bailout were made by ECOFIN. When the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, had to have a conference call on the Sunday night with ECOFIN, it made the decisions and then, on the following Sunday, when he had to fly to...

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: This deal is a very bad deal and in one respect it is a downright obscenity. Ireland's sovereign debt was manageable, but once the banking liabilities incurred by the Government were added to the sovereign debt the situation could no longer be sustained. That is why Ireland could no longer borrow in the markets and why the IMF and the EU are bailing us out. The direct cause of the banking...

EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support: Motion (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: If, for example, a hedge fund buys Irish unguaranteed bank debt at 80 cent in the euro, it stands to make 25% on its investment if Ireland continues to guarantee to redeem the debt at par. The position has now become indefensible that the Irish taxpayer, even the poorest taxpayers, should be required to underpin the speculation of hedge fund investors. There must be transparent, open,...

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: I wish to share time with Deputies Mitchell, Perry and Varadkar. The legislation is a long time in gestation if we understand the Minister correctly. Fine Gael has been calling for resolution legislation for a long time and, eventually, it has arrived. It is not appropriately named, as it is not the kind of resolution Bill I was expecting. This Bill empowers the Minister to do whatever he...

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: Like the Taoiseach, the EU must be speaking in riddles as well. Another purpose is to facilitate the availability of credit in the State. That is a worthy purpose because there is a serious lack of credit at present, and I wish the Minister would do something to provide it. However, I searched the Bill and could not find any measure to put this objective into effect. There is no credit...

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: I am concerned about the role of the Governor of the Central Bank under this legislation. I would have expected resolution legislation to have conferred the special powers on the Governor of the Central Bank, rather than on the Minister. In this Bill the special powers are conferred on the Minister on all occasions. There is a section which states that the independence of the Governor of...

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: In the time available tonight, this extraordinary Bill will receive little scrutiny. The Minister is proposing to take to himself extraordinary and very strong powers. I mean no disrespect to the Minister and his Department when I say their banking policy has not inspired confidence up to now. The proposal to make the Minister the sole agent of the development of future banking policy,...

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: It is near the end of the Bill. We received the Bill at a late stage, as the Minister is aware.

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: A series of sections, from section 53 onwards, limits the rights of people to proceed as I have suggested. I ask the Minister to give us more insight into the thinking behind those provisions. I am not sure where they have come from. I am not too sure where the Bill as a whole has come from. According to the explanatory memorandum, section 64 provides for the "limitation of certain rights...

Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Michael Noonan: He is like our piano. It looks good in the corner but no one wants to play it.