Results 15,961-15,980 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: Yes. It will be welcome and significant but we will wait for the CSO to come out with the figure. It will be of benefit. If the figure of 4.8% was to go down to 4.7% as a result of technical adjustment, the other rule of thumb I use is that every decimal point - every 0.1 - is about €170 million of an adjustment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I understand that the CSO intends announcing by the end of June or early July. It will be the end of June. It will be an adjustment that will say that because of the technical adjustments, Ireland's GDP is no longer €166 billion or so, it is a little bit above that. It will apply from the day the CSO announces it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: So then one can start running the numbers for one's ratios after that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not want to make too much of it. In very simplistic terms, and the committee is very familiar with it, it is like running a race. One must run a mile-long race. If one gets odds of a quarter of a mile, one only has to run three-quarters. If one's year-end position is better than the budget position of 4.8%, as one goes down - 4.7%. 4.6%, 4.5% and 4.4% - one has less correction to do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: We will have it by the end of June.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is only technical.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: One will have the information immediately. All one does is a new sum so one will have a slightly lower deficit but the Vice Chairman should not make too much of it. This is not the main moving part that is going to make an adjustment of less than €2 billion. It is one of the elements that is moving in the right direction.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: If Europe operates according to the timetable announced, the mechanism should be in place by the end of November. Any time after that it is a matter of judgment. There is no mechanism at present to which we can apply but anytime after that it is a question of political judgment and Government decision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I will review the technical note in case my memory fails me. In order for a resolution fund to be able to operate it has to be financed appropriately by the institutions which may potentially benefit from it. In this regard both the bank resolution and recovery directive, BRRD, and the single resolution mechanism, SRM, established target levels that must be reached within a prescribed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I referred to 2024. It is building up over a long period. I do not think that was the answer the Acting Chairman was seeking. That is more for the resolution fund.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: I referred to the resolution fund under the banking union. That is separate from the ESM.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: The ESM funds are already committed, and it is a question of putting them in place. This will partly be done through direct capital input by member states and much of it will be by guarantee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: No, the application can be made after November if the Union meets its timeline.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is low inflation in the European Union.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: Deflation occurs if prices drop below zero but prices are still rising. The best way to consider the matter is that the mission statement of the European Central Bank is to keep inflation near to but less than 2%. It is well shy of that figure at present. There are benefits from low inflation because it reduces the cost base but it also reduces economic activity. In our case, budgets are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: Absolutely. Not only was a statement made in the communiqué from the June 2012 meeting of heads of state and government but Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande also reaffirmed the commitment in bilateral meetings with the Taoiseach, as confirmed in the statements issued subsequent to those meetings.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: The debt is just north of €203 billion. Approximately €40 billion of that figure is bank debt and, when one takes all the swings and roundabouts into account, the cost of that portion is a shade less than €1 billion. The gross cost is €1.6 billion but 80% of the coupon we pay on the Irish paper held by the Central Bank comes back the following year as excess...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: That is the foundation stone on which we rest our case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (18 Jun 2014)

Michael Noonan: No, we get advice from various international organisations periodically. I always take them seriously but I also know that a different skillset is required for a politician managing a Department than for a technical person in the IMF in Washington or in the Commission. It is not all a cut and dried case of something being possible once it is written out in a programme. One has to bring the...