Results 13,041-13,060 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Other Questions: Property Taxation Administration (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: He does it in consultation with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The Deputy will note from the 2014 Book of Estimates that €490 million will be transferred from the Local Government Fund to Irish Water. The Deputy's question is whether that funding will be used locally. The agencies that provide water supply, domestically and commercially, are the local authorities....

Other Questions: Banking Sector Issues (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I thank the Deputy for his question. As he will be aware, in 2013 the Central Bank of Ireland conducted a Balance Sheet Assessment, BSA, of the PCAR banks, namely, the banks that were subject to the Prudential Capital Assessment Review, being AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB, which assessment incorporated an Asset Quality Review, AQR. The results of the review were shared with the...

Other Questions: Real Estate Investment Trusts (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: There is a huge overhang of property, including portfolios held by NAMA and properties being held as collateral for impaired loans across the banking system. The banks have been deleveraging rapidly, especially Ulster Bank. There is potentially an enormous amount of property on the market. Part of the Government's job is to clear the overhang first because there will be no property...

Other Questions: Real Estate Investment Trusts (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is pointing to possible future fears but I am fully aware that there are risks in everything. Life is risky. If a Minister wants to avoid risk he or she will do nothing. Of course there is risk in REITs but the risk is managed and is minimal as far as I am concerned. Only two REITs have been established so far and both are capitalised at around €400 million. Two REITs...

Other Questions: Real Estate Investment Trusts (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I hope it grows further. I believe REITs is a very good way, rather than having someone buying a house up the road and renting it and not having the property properly managed.

Other Questions: Real Estate Investment Trusts (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is much better if the person who wants to invest in property puts his or her €50,000 or €100,000 into a REIT. It will be properly managed if it follows the patten of what happened in other countries and the person's risk will be spread. There would then be a proper rental sector. We have a peculiar rental sector in this country. A good bit of it is in the black economy,...

Other Questions: Property Taxation Administration (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The amount of local property tax received into the Exchequer in 2013 was €318 million. This represents an over-performance relative to the 2013 forecast outturn in budget 2014 which estimated that €300 million would be collected in 2013. This performance is encouraging, both in terms of compliance and revenues raised for the Exchequer, particularly given that this is a new...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The initiative should be seen in the context of the Government's overall policy of identifying and putting in place sources of lending to the Irish economy, other than lending directly from the main banks. There are three funds now operating out of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, Silicon Valley Bank has a $100 million fund to lend to IT companies, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Account Holders (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I am advised that Anglo Irish Bank, IBRC Limited and now IBRC Limited, in special liquidation, has a legal obligation under the Criminal Justice Act 2010 to determine whether a customer, or a beneficial owner connected with the customer or service concerned, being a customer or beneficial owner residing in a place outside the State, is a politically exposed person or an immediate family...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Account Holders (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The lists were compiled before the liquidation took place, but I do not have the exact date. It was compiled by Anglo Irish Bank and IBRC prior to the liquidation taking place. It is part of the process of the liquidation to ensure that nothing untoward happened and if the liquidator comes across anything that could be deemed a criminal offence, he has an obligation to report that to the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Account Holders (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I believe I dealt with the issue. Many members of the public would find it surprising that this provision is in the Criminal Justice Act 2010 but, on reflection, it is quite a good provision. I hope it is being honoured across the banking system. I will get that date for the Deputy and communicate in writing to him.

Other Questions: Real Estate Investment Trusts (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The tax framework for real estate investment trust companies was announced in budget 2013 and introduced into law in March last year in the Finance Act 2013. The first REIT launched in July 2013 made its first property purchases in October 2013, so there has not as yet been sufficient time to determine the impact, if any, REITs have had on rental prices in Ireland. My officials will be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Meetings (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I get several requests from people for meetings, but I cannot meet everyone. I try to meet those who can make a contribution to the economy. There have been many requests for meetings from people representing various funds that want to buy property in Ireland. Normally, they meet representatives of NAMA or the banks and come from abroad. There has been a run of people coming to Dublin,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy will be aware, the Taoiseach mentioned in this House shortly before the recess that he had held discussions with Chancellor Merkel on finding ways to reinforce Ireland's economic recovery by improving funding mechanisms for the real economy, including access to finance for SMEs. The German Government has asked KfW, the German development bank, to work with the German and Irish...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The very fact that an announcement was made to the effect that Chancellor Merkel and the German Government were instructing KfW to assist in financing SMEs in Ireland was one of the helpful factors in accessing the market at low interest rates last week, as it affected market sentiment at our exit from the bailout. There has already been a benefit. What the tangible benefits will be is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Proposals (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: Some months before Christmas, the relevant committee of the House containing many of the Deputies who are here examined the banks on this issue and highlighted the fact that repossession letters were not deemed to be a satisfactory solution. Deputy Doherty put down a question to me asking me what my view on that was. We do not deem letters of repossession to be satisfactory solutions....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Meetings (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: Throughout the course of 2013, I engaged in a large number of meetings with a wide variety of economic and social representative groups. These meetings involving Department officials and I with representative groups are an important input into my work as Minister for Finance. They provide an opportunity to consider the key issues for a wide range of economic stakeholders in as efficient...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ministerial Meetings (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: Speaking from memory, I am not sure. It is not in the Deputy's question so the reply is not in my brief but if he puts down another question either for oral or written reply, I will get him the information immediately. It is unfair to come in and ask a different question entirely when I am prepared to answer the question that he put before us. As regards meeting ordinary taxpayers and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Liquidation (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The liquidators are conscious of those issues. It would be impractical to sell mortgage by mortgage, so what is on sale is the mortgage book, and it will then be bought by some financial institution. I am assured that because one's mortgage arrangement is a matter of contract law, all the rights one had initially when arranging the mortgage will be preserved on the transfer, and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IBRC Liquidation (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: Yes, but the liquidators are aware of this. On the Deputy's other question, there are code names on the different tranches. Evergreen, the first one I was describing, has a face value of €2.5 billion. Some 84% of this is gone already and more of it will go. The second one has the code name Sand, which has €1.8 billion of residential mortgages. The special liquidators have...