Results 15,821-15,840 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry Regulation (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 77 to 79, inclusive, together. The Central Bank of Ireland announced on 28 November that it had received information that Qudos Insurance A/S, a Denmark-based insurer, had entered into solvent liquidation. On 4 December, Qudos Insurance A/S announced that it is currently not paying insurance claims. The Central Bank is actively monitoring developments and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I would like to advise the Deputy that I am not in a position to comment on the activities of individual taxpayers. I can however give the following overview of Section 110 of the TCA 1997 as it relates to the securitisation of mortgages by banks . Section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 sets out a regime for the taxation of special purpose companies set up to securitise...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank of Ireland has an overall and independent responsibility to promote and protect financial stability and the mortgage lending measures are an important tool available to the Bank for that purpose.  As the Deputy is aware, the Central Bank recently published its 2018 review of the residential mortgage macro prudential rules (available at this ) and the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Licensed Moneylenders (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank is independent in the performance of its functions in relation to the granting of licences for regulated activities and it would not be appropriate for me to contact them in relation to the granting of a licence to a specific applicant. The Register of Moneylenders, which is available to the public on the Central Bank’s website, sets out details such as the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic and Monetary Union (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I meet regularly with all my European Ministerial colleagues at the Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings to discuss the deepening of Economic and Monetary Union. I am also aware that German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz gave a speech at Humboldt University in Berlin last month, during which he touched on many of the elements we have been discussing in these meetings. We have been working to an...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Reports (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I assume the Deputy is referencing the Fiscal Assessment Report (FAR) as published on 28 November by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, in relation to Budget 2019. This publication is in fulfilment of the Council's legal mandate to assess and endorse the Government's macro-economic and budgetary forecasts.   Although I have no arrangements currently to meet with the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Agreements (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Ireland’s corporate tax residence rules were amended in Finance Act 2014 to shut down an aggressive tax planning structure referred to as the ‘Double Irish’.  Subsequently, reports emerged of a new alternative aggressive tax planning structure, known as the ‘Single Malt’ that sought to achieve a similar objective.   I understand that the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Parliamentary Questions Data (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The number of Parliamentary Questions received by my Department is set out in the following table: Year PQs Received 2016 1,051 2017 1,424 2018 1,432 My Department is committed to answering Parliamentary Questions in a timely and consistent manner and almost all questions are answered directly.   The following table sets out the number of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates Process (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Due to the scale of Government expenditure and the cash basis of Government accounting, the need for Supplementary Estimates can arise for a number of reasons, including policy decisions, timing issues and overspends. Supplementary Estimates are an important element of our expenditure management toolkit, allowing for the proper alignment of resources with allocations. The attached document...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Forensic Science Ireland Laboratory (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Office of Public Works (OPW) is managing the delivery of the new Forensic Science Laboratory at the Backweston campus. The Deputy should be aware that enabling works for Forensic Science Ireland that commenced in October 2017 have now been completed. However, due to recent changes in international forensic laboratory standards, the merging of the Garda Technical...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works Projects (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Engineering consultant tenders were revived on the 10th September 2018. They are presently being assessed. Planning application is due to be lodged in Quarter 4 2018. The programme for the tender and construction stages of the project will be confirmed when the planning permission process is completed.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Assessments (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: A flood study of the Hazelhatch area of Celbridge, County Kildare, carried by consultants on behalf the local authority, highlighted the need for a re-assessment of the local hydrology for the area. The Office of Public Works (OPW) and Kildare County Council have  jointly developed the Project Brief for this further study that will be commissioned by Kildare County Council.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Rate Increases (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The 9% VAT rate was introduced as a temporary measure in Finance (No. 2) Act 2011, to cease at the end of 2013.  This period was subsequently extended but during last year’s Finance Bill a commitment was given to undertake a review of the 9% VAT rate.  This Review, which was published in July 2018, assessed the relevance, cost, value-for-money and impact to date of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Consultancy Contracts Data (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The details of the audit & consultancy fees paid by the department to KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and PriceWaterhouseCooper in each of the years since 2009 are provided in the following table: Year Supplier Expenditure € Percentage of Audit Consultancy Fees that these payments represent 2016 PriceWaterhouseCooper €73,031 45.60% 2018 KPMG...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Revenue Documents (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Revenue has advised me that it does not issue P45 documents to taxpayers. These documents are provided directly to employees by employers where an employment is ceased. Revenue has however been in direct contact with the person in question and has provided them with written statements setting out the required details (per Revenue’s records) in respect of the employments listed by the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Book Sales (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 59 together. The Code of Practice on the Transfer of Mortgages (the Code of Practice) was issued by the Central Bank of Ireland in 1991 to institutions involved in mortgage credit. It may be applied on a voluntary basis by any institution involved in mortgage credit.  The Code of Practice applies to a loan secured by the mortgage of a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Licensed Moneylenders (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Consumer Credit Act 1995 already provides for the regulation of moneylenders though it does not provide for a maximum rate of interest.  The legislation provides that the Central Bank can refuse to grant a licence to a moneylender if it is of the opinion that the cost of credit to be charged is excessive.  Since the Central Bank assumed responsibility for the licensed...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry Regulation (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: At the outset I would like to say that as Minister for Finance, I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation, and have no role in the day to day supervision of insurance companies. I have therefore consulted with the Central Bank on the matters raised by the Deputy. The Central Bank has advised that the Solvency II Directive represented a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry Regulation (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 63 together. At the outset I would like to say that as Minister for Finance, I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation, and have no role in the day to day supervision of insurance companies. I have therefore consulted with the Central Bank on the matters raised by the Deputy. The Central Bank has...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry Regulation (13 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: At the outset I would like to say that as Minister for Finance, I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation, and have no role in the day to day supervision of insurance companies. I have therefore consulted with the Central Bank on the matters raised by the Deputy. The Central Bank has advised that under European law, the Home supervisory...