Results 2,441-2,460 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: It is my first pre-legislative scrutiny meeting under the guidance of the Chairman of the committee, and with the Deputy's assistance. It is not a Committee Stage debate. If it was I would be coming forward with detailed suggestions of amendments, but my view of it was that we were not at that point yet, so I have gone beyond the Second Stage speech in the Dáil by focusing on...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: That is a fair request. If the committee puts specific questions to me, I will have the Department provide specific replies if members wish to have the answers in writing. If they want me to return in person, I will come back and we will talk our way through the issues.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: We will send the Senator a written reply to his question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: Does the Senator mean shareholders?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: First, in terms of the piece quoted by the Senator, he would have realised, from the subsequent sentences-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: -----that the point I made was that the borrowers from the bank are only one part of the customer base at the bank. Many people put money on deposit in banks and at present the interest rates are negligible or very low. There is a conflict or tension between different types of bank customers from a market point of view . As the economy improves, depositors would like to have a higher...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: On the second point made by the Senator-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: Yes. There is no policy in the Department or at Government level to boost bank profits artificially in order that the shareholding base owned by the State will be more valuable. That is not in the mix at all. The primary interest is that the banks would operate to provide the kind of banking service a modern economy needs and would have the normal interplay of competitive banking offers in...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: First, the banks themselves would say that they have bad loan books, which is a drag on the market and that has to be compensated by charging interest rates on mortgages which would be higher than the European average. Second, they would say that they wrote a substantial number of tracker mortgages which are either are unprofitable or certainly were two years ago. Maybe as we moves towards...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: First, I will respond to Senator Burke's question. Yes, the Central Bank has calculated that 21% of mortgage holders would have savings if they switched, which is quite a high figure. To encourage switchers, there was a campaign late last autumn and there another from about March up to April of 2015 to encourage people to switch. A person with 20 years gone on 25 year mortgage who is...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: No, I have had no personal lobbying from the banks. I know from contacts with the Department that the banks are concerned about this legislation. That is to be expected. To my knowledge, they have not gone into the specifics of their concerns. Some of those concerns came through in my Second Stage speech. I put it to Senator Conway-Walsh that it is not true to say that the actions...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: Of course I am not.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: The difference between Deputy McGrath and me lies in how we want to achieve what is, in effect, a common purpose. I believe that if we can get new entrants into the market and if we can have more competition between the existing people who are offering mortgages and new entrants, that will push interest rates down. Deputy McGrath is frustrated about how long it is taking some lenders to...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: It is improving liquidity in the system as a whole. I would like to give the Senator a considered written response on this complex matter, rather than giving an ad libresponse here from memory.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: Can I comment on what the Chair has said?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: It is quite clear that the Chairman has very strong views on these issues. Nothing in this legislation deals with repossessions, evictions, arrears, the treatment of people in courts, insolvency or anything like that. The Bill is about giving the Central Bank the power to put a cap on variable mortgage interest rates. The issues raised by the Chairman are of great concern to many people,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: The committee will have to bring me in-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: -----on another day to hold me accountable for those issues.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: If am invited in for one purpose, I would like to fulfil that purpose. If the committee is inviting me in for another purpose, it should make that clear in the invitation.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2016: Discussion (20 Oct 2016)
Michael Noonan: No, no.