Results 13,681-13,700 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that to date 6,570 small self-administered pension schemes have been approved by Revenue. As already outlined to the Deputy at the Committee Stage of the Finance Bill, 116 applications were received for Personal Fund Thresholds above the €5 million Standard Fund Threshold introduced in the 2006 Budget and Finance Act. The value of the five largest...

Written Answers — Consumer Protection: Consumer Protection (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: Under the EU Insurance Mediation Directive, travel agents who sell insurance only as part of a holiday package are specifically exempt from financial regulation. These agents are therefore not authorised and regulated as financial services providers by the Financial Regulator and do not come within the scope of the Consumer Protection Codes recently introduced by the Financial Regulator. The...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: On Budget Day, my Department projected economic growth of 5.3% in both GDP and GNP terms for this year. Interest rates remain relatively low in historical terms, and the recent increase has not altered the economic outlook.

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: Inflation, as measured by the CPI fell to 4.8 per cent in February from 5.2 per cent in January 2007. On a HICP basis inflation fell to 2.6 per cent in February from 2.9 per cent in January. The rate of CPI inflation has increased in the past year; this is mainly due to ECB interest rate increases which are outside of Government control. If mortgage interest was removed, CPI inflation would...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: As the Deputy is aware, I introduced legislation into the Finance Bill at Committee Stage to address the arrangements used by some developers that, under current law, do not involve a liability to stamp duty. The legislation provides that stamp duty may be liable on such arrangements as follows: in the case of a contract, where 25 per cent or more of the contract price has been paid over to...

Written Answers — Social Finance Foundation: Social Finance Foundation (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 121, 137 and 296 together. On 8 February 2007 I launched the Social Finance Foundation to implement the Social Finance Initiative announced in Budget 2006. The Foundation has been established on a not-for-profit basis to act as a wholesale supplier of social finance for on-lending by specialist social finance lenders to support social and developmental...

Written Answers — Public Service Employment: Public Service Employment (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Government has over the last number of years, followed a policy under which growth in public service employment has slowed overall. The Government will continue to control and regulate numbers employed in the public service within agreed ceilings. The number employed is kept under constant review given the importance of striking an appropriate balance between the need, on the one hand,...

Written Answers — Consumer Credit: Consumer Credit (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The rise in personal indebtedness must be seen in the context of buoyant economic conditions in recent years, which have been associated with very strong employment growth, increases in wages and reductions in direct taxation. A large part of the increase in personal sector indebtedness also reflects the accumulation of housing assets on the part of households. Moreover, the level of public...

Written Answers — Capital Expenditure: Capital Expenditure (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: My Department's Capital Appraisal Guidelines of February 2005, as amended by Circular Letter of 25 January 2006 on Value for Money, provide for an individual to be appointed as project manager for each capital project. The guidelines specify that a senior official should be appointed as project manager for capital projects above 30 million euro, including at management committee level, where...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: Responsibility for sectoral policy and the management of programmes rests with individual Ministers and their Departments. The development of performance indicators is an integral part of the development of sectoral policies and Value for Money and Policy Reviews and evaluations carried out by Departments. As part of the Government's reforms of the Estimates and Budget process announced by...

Written Answers — Tax Yield: Tax Yield (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The table sets out actual stamp duty receipts in each of the past five years. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Stamp Duty Receipts, €m 1,167 1,688 2,088 2,725 3,717 Stamps as a % of Total Tax Revenue: 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% Although exact data for stamp duty on residential property transactions are not available, the table sets out estimated figures for the period. It shows that receipts for...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The table sets the cost of all home and foreign travel and subsistence paid from my Department's Vote in each of the years 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to date. Payments were made from subheads A2 (Travel and Subsistence), F (Gaeleagras) and J1 (Structural Funds Technical Assistance). 2004 2005 2006 2007 €,000 €,000 €,000 €,000 894 876 1,041 140 The establishment of an office of my...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 and 171 together. The main consumption related taxes are VAT and excise duty. Taken together these two tax-heads are forecast to account for almost €21 billion or 43 per cent of total tax revenues in 2007 compared to the 44 per cent and 46 per cent of actual taxes they accounted for in 1997 and 1987 respectively. Construction impacts on a number of...

Written Answers — Economic Competitiveness: Economic Competitiveness (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: Exports of goods and services are estimated to have increased, in real terms, by an annual average of 4.1% in the last 4 years. Export growth in recent years has been concentrated in the services sector rather than in traditional manufacturing sectors. Between Q4 2002 and Q4 2006 the numbers employed in manufacturing declined by 13,700, or 4.5%. However, this decline in employment in the...

Written Answers — Capital Expenditure: Capital Expenditure (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The examination of projects is a matter for each spending Department. I established the Central Expenditure Evaluation Unit in my Department in June 2006 with the appointment of a Head of Unit and assignment of appropriately qualified staff. The Unit's initial phase of operations included the development of a work programme and running a recruitment process for appropriately skilled...

Written Answers — Tax Yield: Tax Yield (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that estimates of the amounts of internal VAT paid by taxpayers in the building and construction industry in the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, after allowing for repayments and not including VAT on imports, are as follows. VAT yields from building and construction industry Year Net VAT paid €m 2003 669 2004 780 2005 921 2006 1,091 The...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The banking industry has proposed the development of a universal bank account enabling all citizens to make and receive payments electronically — whether in the form of salary, benefit or welfare. The Deputy may wish to note that there are a number of important issues to be considered in progressing such a proposal such as the fees to be associated, who would have right of access to such an...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that for taxation purposes single farm payments can be accounted for on either a receipts basis or an annual basis. In cases where farmers make tax returns on a receipts basis the single farm payment is recognised as a receipt pertaining to the date the cheque issues from the Department of Agriculture and Food and is therefore liable to income...

Written Answers — Fiscal Policy: Fiscal Policy (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: Interest rate policy is entirely a matter for the Governing Council of the ECB, which is independent in deciding these matters.

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (20 Mar 2007)

Brian Cowen: The official opening of my Department's new offices in Tullamore took place on the 6th of October, 2006. Currently, my Department has decentralised one hundred and eighteen (118) staff to Tullamore and a further six (6) staff have accepted offers of decentralisation. The new offices in the Central Business Park in Tullamore is a modern, state of the art building comprising three floors, with...