Results 13,121-13,140 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: National Debt (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Euro-area Heads of State or Government (HoSG) agreed in June 2012 that “it is imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns”, and that when a Single Supervisory Mechanism, involving the ECB, is in place and operational, the European Stability Mechanism could recapitalize banks directly. The Eurogroup meeting of 20th June 2013 agreed on the main...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Ratings (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Irish Credit Bureau is a private entity and I have no role in regulating the mechanism by which lending institutions report to the Bureau. It a commercial matter between the ICB and the relevant institutions. The Deputy will be aware that the Credit Reporting Act, 2013 provides for the establishment of a statutory credit register that will be owned and operated by the Central Bank of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Bank Charges (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy may be aware, the Programme Documents (the Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality and the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies) agreed following the 10th Review of the EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support include a commitment to carry out an assessment of banks’ fee income by end-December 2013 as follows: The authorities will...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: As you are aware the One-Parent Family Credit ceased with effect from 31 December 2013 and was replaced by the Single Person Child Carer Credit, which is applicable from 1 January 2014. The restructured credit is of the same value i.e. €1,650 per annum as the one-parent family tax credit and also carries the same entitlement to the additional €4,000 extended standard rate band,...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Rebates (16 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that in November 2013 they received Forms MED1 from the person concerned for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. These claims have been processed and PAYE Balancing Statements (P21s)  issued dated 29 November 2013, and 4 December 2013 respectively.  As no income tax was paid for 2010, no refund is due for that year. Refunds for 2011 and...

Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy has gone populist.

Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Order for Second Stage (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013 was published in July last and was subject to a three month standstill period under the EU technical standards directive. During this time, several communications seeking clarification around aspects of the Bill were received from the Commission and responded to by my officials. The Bill is designed to...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: It was a question on staffing in Revenue. There is a staffing mix. There is the equivalent of 130 full-time posts in temporary staff on top of those figures. There was outsourcing of the call centres in the property tax arrangements, so the Deputy is getting the net full-time staff figures but there are temporary and outsourced staff in addition to that. There is a trade-off between the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: No.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I do not allocate staff to the Revenue. That is the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I have frequent meetings with the chairperson of the Revenue and she did not raise staff issues with me in recent meetings. The last time she raised staff issues with me, as far as I can recall, was in the preparation for the property tax.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The commitment I made in the budget to reform the recruitment process for new appointments as appeal commissioners will require legislation, which I hope to introduce this year. I intend to appoint a third appeals commissioner.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I will respond to some general questions first and then I will look for advice on some of the specifics. Solicitors’ fees are paid to recover tax. Far more is recovered than fees paid so that is an advantage. If we increase activity in this area, we collect more revenue. Deputy Doherty is probably familiar with the background to the disabled drivers grant. The European Commission...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: I will try to get that information. The targeted audits concentrate predominantly on sectors most susceptible to the shadow economy and shadow activity. They maintain a specific focus on cash businesses; the detection of serious sales suppression in pubs and restaurants and the entertainment and hospitality industries; checking the compliance of white-collar professionals, doctors,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: The project will be led by two divisions of the Department and the allocation is spread across the two divisions.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: Yes. This is driving economic and fiscal policy in the post-bailout period. The strategy which is brought forward will provide the tramlines within which we will operate now that the bailout is over and we do not have the troika providing the similar service. It is a low cost when one considers the intention.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: They are driving the project. In a public service which is by its nature generalist, expertise is always required. Expertise is brought in by getting consultants in and it is cost effective when it is operated properly. I would argue strongly that there is no waste of money in this respect in the Department of Finance. If we were to follow Deputy Boyd Barrett's advice, it would be like...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: We have not yet procured the advice.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: No. There is a range of accountancy firms, which would be the ones who deal with the multinationals. This is by and large a multinational issue. Sometimes we even get pro bono advice because we would have good connections. When we made that change in the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013, we discussed the change widely. IDA Ireland is usually our first port of call because it has a strong set of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners (Revised) (15 Jan 2014)

Michael Noonan: It is a small country when it comes to conflicts of interests.