Results 18,421-18,440 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Revenue Commissioners Investigations (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Diesel that is used in agricultural tractors and for certain other specified purposes is subject to a lower rate of excise duty and must contain prescribed markers, including a dye which gives it a green colouration, to distinguish it from diesel that may be used in motor vehicles. It is an offence, under section 102 (1) (b) (ii) of the Finance Act 1999, to use marked diesel in a motor...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Small and Medium Enterprises Debt (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I assume the Deputy is referring to the ISME Q3 2013 survey where it was reported that 57% of companies who applied for funding were refused credit by their banks. The Deputy may be interested to note that the ISME Q4 2014 survey reports a refusal rate of 38%. The SME Credit demand survey April-September 2014 conducted by Red C on behalf of my Department is the most comprehensive survey of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Property Tax Exemptions (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Government decided a universal liability to the LPT should apply to all owners of residential property with limited exemptions. Limiting the exemptions available allows the rate to be kept low for those liable persons who do not qualify for an exemption. The Local Property Tax (LPT) legislation does not contains a relief from Local Property Tax for Stamp Duty payments. The...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Debt Restructuring (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: My view is that when countries encounter difficulties, a process of negotiation is always better than one of conflict. Specifically in the case of euro area Member States, all programme negotiations have been conducted within the Eurogroupand Ecofin, with IMF involvement as appropriate. My view is that these are the appropriate fora for resolving outstanding issues such as this.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Debt Write-downs (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 281 and 282 together. At the end of last year, the total amount owing to Ireland under the Greek loan facility was €347 million (0.2 per cent of GDP). This arises by way of bilateral loans provided to Greece, prior to Ireland's entry into a programme in late-2010. The bulk of Greece's obligations are to the official sector, and policy over the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Cost (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Tax relief is not available to parents in respect of crèche fees or child care costs. A relief did exist in the form of a benefit-in-kind exemption where child care facilities were provided by an employer. However, this was abolished in Finance Act 2011, following a recommendation made by the Commission on Taxation, which cited equity issues in relation to those parents whose employers...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: National Payments Plan Implementation (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The National Payments Plan, published in April 2013, targets improving consumer payments systems, modernising business payments, promoting electronic payment methods, reducing costly cheque usage and increasing the efficiency of the use of cash. The National Payments Plan outlines that if Ireland were to match best practice in Europe, savings of up to €1 billion per annum could be made...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: In regard to the first part of the Deputy's Question, I am advised by Revenue that the total number of chargeable self-assessed Income Tax payers is set out in Table 1 below. It was not possible for Revenue to breakdown the data on a county basis in the timeframe available for responding to the Question. In regard to the second part of the Deputy's Question on the use of Attachment Orders,...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (3 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the annual tax revenue collected from and tax refunds relating to RCT between 2000 and 2007 is as set out in the following table. Year RCT Gross RCT Repayments / Offsets RCT Net €m €m €m 2000 339.3 287.1 52.2 2001 422.2 365.2 57.0 2002 394.3 365.2 29.1 2003 477.0 423.7 53.3 2004 613.0...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank the Deputy for the question. I am advised that the NAMA chief executive, in his opening address to the Committee of Public Accounts in December 2014, stated that NAMA is aiming to redeem a cumulative 80% - that is €24 billion - of its senior debt by the end of 2016 and that it hopes it will have redeemed all of it by the end of 2018. He stated that those targets were...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: There is no change in the indicative dates given by the chairman and the chief executive and it is hoped, market conditions permitting, that NAMA will have disposed of all its assets by 2018. It expects also to show a surplus at the end of that period. The stories there were a few years ago of a black hole emerging in NAMA are not correct. As the Deputy said, it will at least break even...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: There is no pressure from me or the Department of Finance. What I have outlined in the House is the mandate for NAMA which it is fulfilling very satisfactorily. As market conditions and its perception of them change, NAMA speed up or slows down disposals. I understand market conditions are very good and that NAMA is speeding up disposals. I do not know where the figure of €8...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Prior to the recent elections in Greece, I was asked my view on the need for a European debt conference, given the high level of public debt in Greece. My position was and remains that the best method of addressing the issue is through multilateral discussions, rather than unilateral action. Specifically, in the case of euro area member states, all programme negotiations have been conducted...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Irish debt position is entirely sustainable. The problem is in Greece, not in Ireland. If one looks at the money raised by the NTMA since Christmas, yesterday a 30-year bond was issued for the first time in the history of the State. Some 380 investors wished to buy 30-year Irish paper, at just over 2%. If we are getting money for 30 years at a rate of 2%, it is very hard to say...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I do not know what the new Greek finance Minister is tweeting because my Greek is very poor.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I have friends in strange places so I am looking forward to meeting the Greek finance Minister for the first time at the next Eurogroup meeting in Brussels. It is up to the Greek Government to bring forward proposals on how to deal with its problem. It is not up to the other partners in Europe to be the initiators. It is up to the Greek Government to ask for what it wants. When it asks...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank the Deputy for his question. While the Greek debt to GDP ratio is currently very high, my view is that when countries encounter difficulties, a process of negotiation is always better than one of conflict. Specifically in the case of euro area member states, all programme negotiations have been conducted within the Eurogroup and ECOFIN, with IMF involvement as appropriate. My view...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Different things have been said by the representatives of the new Greek Government during the election campaign and since the election. So far there has not been a consistent set of demands. Different people have said different things, or at least different people have been putting a different degree of emphasis on what they have been saying. We will see what the Greek ask is at the end of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: I would not exonerate anybody. There is always poetry during the campaign and prose when one must govern. Greece is in the prose stage now and we will see the hard proposals. I read with interest the reports of the press conference in London with Chancellor George Osborne and the Greek finance Minister. I thought an interesting set of proposals emerged. It is incorrect to state a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Debt Restructuring (4 Feb 2015)

Michael Noonan: Austerity in Ireland ended more than 12 months ago. The most recent budget imposed no new expenditure cuts or no new taxes, and a significant amount of tax relief was given in the budget, both in terms of reductions in universal social charge and in income tax. Deputy Paul Murphy can keep singing the same song, but it is the hit parade of last year or two years ago. There is no austerity...