Results 15,521-15,540 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: Our tax approach seems to be effective in the labour market because approximately 1,200 net jobs a week are being created and have been created for the past 17 months and the projections are that this level of net job creation will be maintained. It is a long-standing commitment across the main parties that the 12.5% corporation tax rate will be maintained and the Government is committed to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy will be aware, section 227 of the NAMA Act 2009 requires me to complete a review of NAMA every five years. The purpose of the review is to assess the extent to which NAMA has made progress toward achieving its overall objectives and decide whether continuation of NAMA is necessary having regard to the purposes of the Act. As part of this review, my officials will examine...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: I am committed to publishing the review before the summer recess and will make a decision shortly afterwards. The decision on the strategy for the disposal of the residual NAMA assets will be announced publicly. The Deputy is well aware of the considerations involved. First, when one disposes of the assets underpinning the loan books NAMA has, the third party purchasers frequently tend to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: NAMA is obliged to act in the interest of the taxpayer and that is the Government's obligation and interest as well. Considerations of a play on the property market should not be the primary concern. People who waited for the market to peak during the Celtic tiger crashed out and those who sold at a lesser price took their money with them. It is, therefore, a difficult call but it is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: In early 2014, when the ECB initially sought my views in the context of its discussion on the possible release of the letter, I indicated that the decision to release the letter was a matter for the ECB. However, it is important for relationships between institutions to be developed and sustained to allow confidential negotiations to take place especially on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is well aware that freedom of information requests operate in accordance with the law. They are not ministerial functions. The law is interpreted by a designated official within Departments and agencies. The decision not to release a copy of the letter in Ireland was made under the freedom of information law. In Europe, the decision was made by the European Ombudsman that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: I am not an actor in this. I explained that to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is a typical Sinn Féin approach to ascribe views to people that they do not hold. I have no legal power or authority to overturn the decision of an information officer who is acting under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. I have no legal power or authority to overturn a decision by the European Ombudsman, who is acting under her legislation. When the European...

Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Application (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: Decisions regarding tax matters are primarily a matter for my Department and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.  However, the budget was agreed by the Government before being announcement on budget day.  From 16 October 2013, tax relief for medical insurance premiums has been restricted to the first €1,000 per adult and the first €500 per child insured. Any...

Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Application (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy should look at the text of my budget speech in which I used the phrase "gold-plated". It was not as the Deputy is describing it. The tax relief that was provided was a relief at the standard rate of tax of 20%. The cap is at €1,000 per adult. Somebody who pays up to €1,000 per adult continues to get the 20% relief. If it goes over €1,000, the tax break is...

Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Application (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is no impact on adults with health insurance policies costing under €1,000 gross. There is an impact above that figure. It does not have much of an impact on people with modest health insurance policies but impacts a little on people at the top. I do not disagree with the Deputy that people with health insurance and those on middle incomes are finding it hard to live. He...

Other Questions: Mortgage Schemes (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Government recently launched Construction 2020: A strategy for a renewed construction sector. The purpose of the strategy is to underpin the future competitiveness of the country, ensuring we will continue to be well positioned to attract the inward investment that has been so important to our economic development. The strategy includes the Government's desire for a return to...

Other Questions: Mortgage Schemes (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: There are more than 70 recommendations in the construction initiative published by the Government, and through the Cabinet sub-committee the Taoiseach will, on a month-by-month basis, ensure these initiatives are introduced and developed. The Deputy is aware that the housing market and the building industry have been in crisis for many years and that they constitute an impaired sector of the...

Other Questions: Mortgage Schemes (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: These are considerations that the Government always takes into account. However, we are dealing with a situation in which the whole building industry collapsed for reasons we are aware of. Many good builders can no longer build. We are trying to take initiatives to get it going again. We have succeeded to a great extent by removing the overhang in Dublin through sales of property by NAMA...

Other Questions: National Debt (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The stability programme update, SPU, published last month, provided an estimate for general Government interest expenditure of €8.45 billion in 2015. This is a reduction of €300 million on the corresponding budget 2014 estimate, primarily reflecting an improvement in the interest rate environment generally. The interest expenditure projection for 2015 will be further reviewed...

Other Questions: National Debt (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: Most countries have national debts; I do not know of any country which does not have such a debt. If one is running a national debt, one pays interest on outstanding loans. That is the way countries behave if they wish to remain solvent. Ireland's national debt is just in excess of €200 billion, of which some €64 billion arises from the situation with the banks, while...

Other Questions: National Debt (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: It was paid in the first year in which we were in government, when the Deputy was still a member of the Labour Party.

Other Questions: National Debt (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: It was not paid after that and we then negotiated our way out of it. The effective rate of interest on all of that money now stands at approximately 1%. The money to which I refer is not of the pretend variety; it is real.

Other Questions: National Debt (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy should not be concerned with that old guff.

Other Questions: National Debt (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: More than two thirds of the Irish national debt is due to previous Governments running deficits. That is a fact. Less than one third is due to what Deputy Broughan deplores, that is, bust banks that had to be recapitalised and bailed out. Deputy Broughan should not pretend that foreign bankers imposed this on us. Much of the burden of the debt was done domestically, over two thirds of it...