Results 14,461-14,480 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I will have to examine that defence; I am not in a position to assist the Deputy on that matter now.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I do not examine Garda affidavits as Minister for Finance and the Garda——

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Garda does not hand over affidavits to me and quite honestly I am not aware of that affidavit.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Deputy has repeated St. Patrick's Day 2008 every time the subject of this bank has been discussed in the House.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I put on the record of the House already——

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I put on the record of the House already this evening the views of Professor Honohan on the original guarantee and Deputy Rabbitte quoted from an article in an academic journal written by Professor Honohan in this regard. All I can say is that the concerns he had expressed in that article did not materialise in respect of the more extended coverage for the taxpayer. In his more recent...

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——and our State's problems. The Deputy is not engaging in any realistic way with the real problems——

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——which the Government has to grapple with and with which any Government which replaces it will have to grapple. Deputy Burton will have to address these issues sooner or later if she finds herself in government, and she will have to resile from the entire line of rhetoric in which she has engaged in the past two years or not bother to occupy the position of Minister for Finance.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: That is the position that faces her if she has a genuine ambition to be in government and to provide leadership in the country at a time of very great difficulty. It is all too easy to take the line of rhetoric she has taken on the banks. I appreciate very well from public opinion that banks are not loved institutions but we need credit institutions to support an economy. Without them——

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We in the House are all well aware of that but if we decide to collapse these institutions it will not be a matter of not providing some or limited credit, it will be a matter of not providing credit at all. If that is the outcome the Deputy wants, and if the Deputy wants to create an Icelandic-type crisis she should be open and admit it. The reality of this position is that the Government...

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——from successive governors of the Central Bank. In Iceland, the economic contraction continues at a very sharp level——

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: ——far greater than any contraction we have seen here, and with interest rates, as Deputy Kennedy reminds me, of 18%. Let us get real about the debate on the banking system in the country. The model we chose to deal with this was precisely the same model followed in Sweden.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Listen Deputy, I will not take that kind of defamatory allegation in the House about cronies.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am happy to say, and I will abide by the judgment of the people in this regard, that I have always acted in the public interest and I am entirely uninfluenced by private considerations or interests in this matter. If we do not preserve a banking system here, we will not preserve an economy. If one cannot move on from that basic lesson, then I am afraid one has a long learning curve.

Credit Institution (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Later in the autumn.

Written Answers — Tax Collection: Tax Collection (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that on the introduction of vehicle registration tax (VRT) on 1 January 1993, there was a requirement for all vehicles to be presented for examination prior to registration. However, by the early years of this decade, the Revenue Commissioners had adopted a risk-based approach to the registration of vehicles, thus eliminating the need for all...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Tax relief on individual pension contributions is currently allowed at the taxpayer's marginal income tax rate, that is, at the standard or higher rate of income tax as appropriate in each case. The availability of tax relief at 33% to all taxpayers regardless of their marginal rate would result in a reduction in the tax relief on pension contributions available to higher rate taxpayers and...

Written Answers — Commercial Property Valuation: Commercial Property Valuation (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Valuation Act, 2001 which came into effect on 2nd May, 2002, provides for the revaluation of all commercial and industrial property. This is a major project in nature and scale, all the more so given that such a nationwide exercise has not been undertaken since the mid-1800's. The Commissioner of Valuation has sole responsibility for all valuation matters under the Valuation Act 2001,...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that on the introduction of vehicle registration tax (VRT) on 1 January 1993, there was a requirement for all vehicles to be presented for examination prior to registration. However, by the early years of this decade, the Revenue Commissioners had adopted a risk-based approach to the registration of vehicles, thus eliminating the need for all...

Written Answers — Tax Collection: Tax Collection (29 Sep 2010)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As the Deputy is aware, for reasons of taxpayer confidentiality, the Revenue Commissioners do not comment on individual cases. However, I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that revenue audits are conducted in accordance with legislation and the published Code of Practice for Revenue Auditors. The Code of Practice for Revenue Auditors contains details of the procedures to be...