Results 19,541-19,560 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: I accept the Deputy's sincerity on this issue. No one has a monopoly on the knowledge about how to resolve this issue. It has proven difficult internationally. When people lose their jobs and fall into arrears, they do not have the wherewithal to service their mortgages, so one must devise solutions to keep them in their homes. It is the Government's policy that people remain in their...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Eviction (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: I thank Deputy Coppinger for her question. Issues relating to the rental market and tenancy rights are for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly. I am informed by his Department that, in circumstances where a receiver is appointed to a landlord's interest in a dwelling, it is essential that the rights of tenants be protected....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Eviction (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: As I noted in my original reply, when a buy to let is sold, the rights of the tenants continue. They do not lose any other their rights because of a change of ownership. In circumstances where a receiver is appointed to manage a landlord's interest in a dwelling, it is essential that the rights of tenants are protected. While the circumstances of each case may vary depending on the terms...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Eviction (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy did not ask me in her original question to introduce legislation to prevent lending agencies from selling buy-to-let properties. She asked me to introduce legislation to oblige banks to honour existing leases. That is a tenant rights issue. Under the 2004 Act, lending agencies are obliged to fulfil the tenant rights obligations on a change of ownership. If a problem arises in...

Other Questions: NAMA Bonds (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The NAMA chief executive stated in his opening address to the Committee of Public Accounts on 18 December 2014 that NAMA is aiming to redeem a cumulative 80%, or €24 billion, of its senior debt by the end of 2016 and hopes to have redeemed all of it by the end of 2018.  He stated that these targets were predicated on conditions in the Irish market remaining favourable and on NAMA...

Other Questions: NAMA Bonds (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Generally speaking what the Deputy outlined is correct but while the nominal value was €74 billion, the purchase price of €31 billion was paid with bonds. As NAMA sells its loan books, it can repay the bonds. It has committed to repaying 80% by 2016. It is in a position to pay back all of its senior bonds and junior debt and still be in surplus. NAMA is not going to cost the...

Other Questions: NAMA Bonds (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: On the write-downs between the nominal value of the loans of around €74 billion and the €31 billion to which the Deputy referred, those losses were taken by the creditors who had borrowed from the banks. The losses are not to the taxpayer but to the individual creditors who effectively went broke. There are several examples of this, the most prominent of which are in the...

Other Questions: Tax Yield (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that information on receipts by tax head is available on the Revenue Commissioners' statistics website at , under "Revenue Net Receipts by Taxhead on an annual basis" to 2014. As shown on the website, local property tax net receipts were €316 million in 2013 and €493 million in 2014. The Revenue Commissioners has also confirmed that...

Other Questions: Tax Yield (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy must be the only the person in the country who is expressing surprise at these figures this morning. Everyone knows we have lost almost a decade because of the policies pursued by the previous Government. We know the country was on the verge of bankruptcy. The banks actually became bankrupt and they had to be bailed out. We could not continue the way we were. If it were not...

Other Questions: Tax Yield (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: First, we do not live in a society that is class-based or class-divided. This is a republic and we are all workers.

Other Questions: Tax Yield (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: I know there are some people who do not like to describe themselves as workers. However, to try and present a case that a cohort of people - workers - were the only ones who lost out during the past eight years is a fallacy. Everybody got hammered. The Deputy need only look at the live register.

Other Questions: Tax Yield (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Look at all the small businesses that closed down.

Other Questions: Tax Yield (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Boyd Barrett is building a fictional model of society. He is also selling unsound political currency to the people. He is pretending that out there somewhere there is a mythical enormous group of millionaires hiding under the bushes, and if we only taxed them adequately, everybody else would have to pay no tax. That is the way the Deputy presents it, which is grand. It is the...

Other Questions: Economic Policy (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The spring economic statement, SES, outlines Ireland's medium-term economic and fiscal plan. It demonstrates that our public finances are under control, the economy is growing and continued improvement is forecast in the coming years. In this regard, the SES outlined that fiscal space of the order of €1.2 to €1.5 billion will be available for budget 2016, while still complying...

Other Questions: Economic Policy (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy raises a number of questions. First, she talked about how we were continuing to cut public expenditure. We are not. In the last budget, the Government increased public expenditure. The spring statement states that we will continue to increase public expenditure between now and 2020. We have spelled it out in precise terms for 2016. The Minister for Public Expenditure and...

Other Questions: Economic Policy (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The statistical tables accompanying the spring statement are quite complex and I need guidance through them myself. However, it is not true to say that they indicate a reduction in expenditure. From 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020-----

Other Questions: Economic Policy (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The tables for 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 are carried forward on the basis of no policy change. That is where one gets the reduction. If there are no policy changes, there will be reductions, but there will be policy changes. The Government has committed to making policy changes and to using the fiscal space that has been identified for each year for extra expenditure to enhance the public...

Other Questions: Living City Initiative (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The living city initiative was commenced and launched on 5 May 2015. It is an urban regeneration incentive which focuses on the regeneration of the historic centres of six cities. This initiative is a scheme of property tax reliefs which applies in certain "special regeneration areas" in the centres of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny, particularly those areas which...

Other Questions: Living City Initiative (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Schemes along these lines must be cleared in Brussels at Commission level. When the initial proposal was put to the authorities in Brussels, certain difficulties emerged, so there was a rethink and the scheme was extended to the six main cities. The local authorities were charged with designating the areas they considered suitable. An independent outside consultant was retained to give...

Other Questions: Living City Initiative (7 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The major difference is that it extends between the two cities originally involved in the pilot studies. In general terms, there was consultation between the Department of Finance, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the local authorities. The tendency of the local authorities is to designate the biggest area possible, but of course that does not always...