Results 17,041-17,060 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: Hold on a second; I want to finish the point. We would be at the point where sensible people would say that we must liquidate this thing the same way as I liquidated IBRC-Anglo. The only way to get out of this is liquidation. There is no point in bailing in to rescue something because it is dead. When we go down the process, in my view the likelihood of direct recapitalisation being...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: The point about Cyprus was that it was the first time a bail-in was agreed-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: -----and there was uproar because depositors were being bailed-in. It was the first test of resolution-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: -----but what was done in Cyprus on a pilot basis became European law subsequently.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy's point is the other way around.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is the other way round, in spite of the Cypriot authorities.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: No. After the 8%, which I understand will become operational from 16 January, the next phase is sovereign resolution funds. The sovereign resolution funds in year 1 are sovereign resolution funds but then there is an agreement to mutualise them over a period of time when one is beginning to get access to one's neighbour's resolution fund. As they mutualise the funds, the taxpayer goes out...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: Obviously, there are various options. The first point raised by the Deputy with which I would like to deal is that €31 billion of taxpayers' money was burned or fried in Anglo Irish Bank. That is not true as Anglo Irish Bank was refinanced through the promissory note, which basically is an IOU. Consequently, money was not put in. What had happened was that the IOU incurred ongoing...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: No, the Deputy is missing the point. which I wish to explain because there is a lot of confusion about it. The Government paid the money in the first year because it fell due when we went into government in February 2011. The first demand came in and we paid it, as we did not know what would be the market reaction if we did not. The Government did not know what pressure would be put on -...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: No, I want to-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: No, we are not. I want to-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: ----- nail a point the Deputy and many other people have made, which is that €31 billion of Irish taxpayers' money was fried in Anglo Irish Bank, as there was not. That is mythology. The replacement was Government paper, which is held by the Central Bank. It is holding €28 billion and has the piece from Bank of Ireland that can go on the market straight away. It would be...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: This is the point of disagreement with me. Money was not borrowed to put into Anglo Irish Bank. The Anglo debt was underpinned by a promissory note, which basically was an IOU.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: What is happening now-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: It was always debt. The debt was there and even though it was not reckoned within the table of national debt, the markets always added €31 billion onto the Irish debt because they knew this liability was hanging out there. It is only a presentational thing to state it was converted into debt. However, what replaced the promissory note was Irish Government paper and as Deputy...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: In answering, this is one of the points of disagreement I have with Deputy Michael McGrath. I find in Europe that if one deals technically, one will lose. If one deals strategically, one gets places. One always needs to have a number of options. The idea of settling and saying we will apply now and on their refusal, it is off the table is not the way Europe works. If one has a demand...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: European Stability Mechanism (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: -----it is all off the table and we will sell the shares. That is not how it works. I know from dealing with them that what is impossible is suddenly not so when they have to help another country or need something else. There are 28 member states and there are now 18 eurozone countries and one has to keep it in play. Therefore, I will keep it in play.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Coverage (9 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: Neither I, as Minister for Finance, nor the Central Bank of Ireland, as Regulator, can compel insurers to quote for business. The decision to provide any specific form of insurance cover and the price at which it is offered is a commercial matter based on the assessment an insurer will make of the risks involved.  My officials have consulted with the Central Bank of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Savings Schemes (9 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: In response to the issue raised, it should be clarified that State Savings is not a 'body', but rather is the brand name used to describe the savings products issued by me, as Minister for Finance, to personal savers through the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). The Minister for Finance has never been subject to the regulation of the Central Bank. However, the NTMA, in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Rate Application (9 Oct 2014)

Michael Noonan: The 9% reduced VAT rate for tourism related services was introduced in July 2011 as part of the Government Jobs Initiative. The measure was designed to boost tourism and create additional jobs in that sector.  It is not the practice to comment on what measures may or may not be introduced in advance of the Budget.