Results 15,161-15,180 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: There were bilateral meetings between the countries and the Commission. One country, for example, which I will not name, had the tap turned off on the transfer of funds which it was getting under one of the European programmes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: Speaking from memory I do not recall Germany being admonished with country-specific recommendations which were enforced.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: Under the semester I do not recall specific recommendations for Germany. We would like to see Germany reducing its current account surplus because a model where everybody eliminates deficits and nobody reduces surpluses does not seem to be tenable in the long term unless we run a balance of payments surplus with the rest of the world on a continuing basis. I do not think that is the way to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not think the figures are changing month-by-month in Europe, or in this country either, but it is possible now to identify certain trends both in the Irish economy and in the European economy. On ten-year bond interest rates, the trend has been downward but that is for reasons that were well planned in the Department of Finance and through the NTMA. Effectively, we are de-risking the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: On Deputy McGrath's first question, I am as confident as any finance Minister in Europe can be about how events will play out by the end of the year. We also are not that enthusiastic about GDP figures because GNP is a more accurate measure of how the Irish economy is going now than GDP. As the Deputy knows, GDP includes all the foreign stuff whereas GNP is more or less the domestic economy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: There will be some scope for income tax reductions if we make a correction in excess of €2 billion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: That is not the best way of putting it. We take from areas that do not hurt job creation and we give to areas which help to create jobs, but let us travel in hope. We may have scope.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: The position is that we include in the stability update what we know with certainty. We cannot put wishes, aspirations or policies in it until there is agreement, but that does not mean we will not continue to pursue the policy and several other policies to make our debt position more sustainable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: What the Senator is suggesting is building in data that is aspirational, which is the very thing that got us into trouble in the first instance.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: What we have got here are hard figures on which we can rely, and they are our best projections of what are the figures. We are not putting aspirational material in the document. We are not putting in policy positions that we continue to pursue. We will continue to pursue that particular policy, but it is not appropriate to the stability update.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: The paragraph to which the Senator is referring states: It is important to stress that upside risks also exist on the domestic front. Firstly, economy-wide investment remains at close to record low levels. While the baseline scenario assumes a recovery in the investment-to-output ratio over the medium term, a more rapid 'normalisation' is possible. Secondly, employment growth has surpassed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: -----I cannot help him any further on this particular question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is difficult enough to answer the question. The connection between growth and budgetary correction level is probably between gross national product, GNP, and the amount of taxes that flow through the Exchequer. It is quite a complicated question to answer. If the economy grows very strongly in GNP terms with many people going back to work, paying income and expenditure taxes, no longer...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: We have been through an absolute economic tsunami. If the value of everything in the economy goes down by 20%, as it did with GDP, this then transfers over in the closure of many small businesses, particularly on the retail side. It is beginning to restore again, particularly in Dublin. One sees businesses reopening or starting up. I hope we are at the start of a more optimistic cycle....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: Obviously, there is always a desire in any government that public services will be very good, especially education, health, keeping the streets safe and so on. We have gone through a period where we had to be very careful about the amounts we were dedicating to such expenditure because we had to consolidate on the expenditure side, as well as on the tax side. We are still operating under...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not agree with the Deputy's presentation because we have focused on growth. We had a twin-track approach to get the deficit down and control the debt - and the troika programme was up in lights for everybody - but, in parallel with that, the Government ran a programme to grow every sector of the economy. That is why I reduced VAT in the tourism industry from 13.5% and 9%; that is why...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is carryover in revenue and expenditure. I cannot give the Deputy specifics but there is carryover from the Haddington Road agreement. There is always a carryover on the revenue side but it is not large this year. I recall seeing figures before Christmas and it was low.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is €2 billion allowing for the carryover, which is small, but there is a bit more probably on the expenditure side than on the tax side. The rule of thumb division is 2:1 in favour of expenditure and, therefore, one is looking at approximately €700 million in tax.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: Yes, on the basis of today's paper but that could be qualified by saying the income tax figures for March were strong. If that continued during the year and strengthened further, that would give us a much greater tax carryover into next year and the €700 million adjustment in taxation would be pulled back.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Stability Programme Update: Minister for Finance (15 Apr 2014)

Michael Noonan: That is what is here.