Results 11,361-11,380 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Application (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is no impact on adults with health insurance policies costing under €1,000 gross. There is an impact above that figure. It does not have much of an impact on people with modest health insurance policies but impacts a little on people at the top. I do not disagree with the Deputy that people with health insurance and those on middle incomes are finding it hard to live. He...

Other Questions: Mortgage Schemes (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Government recently launched Construction 2020: A strategy for a renewed construction sector. The purpose of the strategy is to underpin the future competitiveness of the country, ensuring we will continue to be well positioned to attract the inward investment that has been so important to our economic development. The strategy includes the Government's desire for a return to...

Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Application (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: Decisions regarding tax matters are primarily a matter for my Department and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.  However, the budget was agreed by the Government before being announcement on budget day.  From 16 October 2013, tax relief for medical insurance premiums has been restricted to the first €1,000 per adult and the first €500 per child insured. Any...

Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Application (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy should look at the text of my budget speech in which I used the phrase "gold-plated". It was not as the Deputy is describing it. The tax relief that was provided was a relief at the standard rate of tax of 20%. The cap is at €1,000 per adult. Somebody who pays up to €1,000 per adult continues to get the 20% relief. If it goes over €1,000, the tax break is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is well aware that freedom of information requests operate in accordance with the law. They are not ministerial functions. The law is interpreted by a designated official within Departments and agencies. The decision not to release a copy of the letter in Ireland was made under the freedom of information law. In Europe, the decision was made by the European Ombudsman that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: I am not an actor in this. I explained that to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is a typical Sinn Féin approach to ascribe views to people that they do not hold. I have no legal power or authority to overturn the decision of an information officer who is acting under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. I have no legal power or authority to overturn a decision by the European Ombudsman, who is acting under her legislation. When the European...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: NAMA is obliged to act in the interest of the taxpayer and that is the Government's obligation and interest as well. Considerations of a play on the property market should not be the primary concern. People who waited for the market to peak during the Celtic tiger crashed out and those who sold at a lesser price took their money with them. It is, therefore, a difficult call but it is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Oireachtas Banking Inquiry (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: In early 2014, when the ECB initially sought my views in the context of its discussion on the possible release of the letter, I indicated that the decision to release the letter was a matter for the ECB. However, it is important for relationships between institutions to be developed and sustained to allow confidential negotiations to take place especially on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: I am committed to publishing the review before the summer recess and will make a decision shortly afterwards. The decision on the strategy for the disposal of the residual NAMA assets will be announced publicly. The Deputy is well aware of the considerations involved. First, when one disposes of the assets underpinning the loan books NAMA has, the third party purchasers frequently tend to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: Our tax approach seems to be effective in the labour market because approximately 1,200 net jobs a week are being created and have been created for the past 17 months and the projections are that this level of net job creation will be maintained. It is a long-standing commitment across the main parties that the 12.5% corporation tax rate will be maintained and the Government is committed to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: NAMA Operations (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy will be aware, section 227 of the NAMA Act 2009 requires me to complete a review of NAMA every five years. The purpose of the review is to assess the extent to which NAMA has made progress toward achieving its overall objectives and decide whether continuation of NAMA is necessary having regard to the purposes of the Act. As part of this review, my officials will examine...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: In restoring the public finances to a sustainable path this Government has striven to ensure adjustments to taxation are made in as growth-friendly a fashion as possible. At the heart of this endeavour is the principle that the tax system maintains the right incentives for people to work and invest. Research by the OECD has shown that taxes on labour tend to be more damaging to economic...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: One gets less of what is taxed most. If everything is piled on income tax, there will be fewer people working. What I want is to change the tax base in accordance with the best advice available to make it more work-friendly. That means broadening the tax base and introducing taxes such as property tax. The view of anybody who comments on tax is that this is the proper way to proceed. It...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Unions (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: We have all heard these objections. However, the facts do not bear them out. On the Deputy's point that section 35 is not working, under section 35, 30% of a loan book can be outstanding for more than five years. The credit unions have, on average, only 11% outstanding. Also, 10% of a loan book can be outstanding for more than ten years, but the credit unions have only 2% outstanding....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Unions (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Central Bank is the regulator, not the Department of Finance. The bank regulates principally to protect the interests of customers and to protect the savings of credit union members. It does not want credit unions to get into financial difficulty. There is a myth that all the banks were bad and all the credit unions were good, but this is not true. There have been credit unions that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Insurance Industry Regulation (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not disagree with the Deputy. The position on compensation vis-à-visIreland and Malta is as outlined by the Deputy. However, there is an internal market in Europe and there is a right to establish and trade. There is a free-flow of goods and services and insurance is one of the industries that benefits from the Internal Market. For example, some very large insurance companies...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Unions (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: Credit unions have an important role to play in providing credit in local communities around the country and I am supportive of safe and responsible lending by them. Acting as the independent regulator, the Registrar of Credit Unions at the Central Bank has applied lending restrictions to some credit unions.  I have been informed that these restrictions are viewed as...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Insurance Industry Regulation (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The role of the Department of Finance is to provide the legislative framework in accordance with EU insurance directives. Direct responsibility for regulation lies with the Central Bank which seems to be confident that it has, as the Deputy put it, a handle on the people trading in Ireland. I explained in great detail in replies to other parliamentary questions the position on Setanta...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Insurance Industry Regulation (27 May 2014)

Michael Noonan: The current legal and regulatory framework for the provision of insurance in the European Economic Area and the supervision of that activity is prescribed by European Union law in the life and non-life insurance directives. The provision of insurance throughout the EEA on a freedom of services basis and a freedom of establishment basis - that is, establishment of a branch - within this...