Results 14,521-14,540 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Other Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: There is sugar in many food products, for example, wine.

Other Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: Is Deputy Wallace declaring an interest?

Other Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: I know how hard it is to reply to a budget when one has just seen the script. One decimal point on this is approximately €160 million, although Members should not tie me to that. The Deputies opposite can start running their numbers.

Other Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: Yes. If the 5.1% goes down one point that is approximately €160 million to €165 million. That might be a useful piece of information for the Deputies when they are attacking me on budget day.

Other Questions: NAMA Staff Qualifications (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: I am aware from my discussions with NAMA, and with the NTMA which employs staff assigned to NAMA, of the difficulties being experienced by NAMA in terms of retaining and recruiting appropriately skilled and experienced staff. It is important that NAMA, on behalf of the taxpayer, has the expertise available to it to carry out its commercial mandate with the aim, at minimum, of eliminating the...

Other Questions: NAMA Staff Qualifications (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: The notice period for NTMA employees assigned to NAMA is typically three months. NTMA contracts for employees assigned to NAMA have a provision entitling NTMA to place the employee on garden leave at any point during the notice period during which time the employee may not work for another employer. Following a review of its policy in respect of notice periods and post-termination...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: We will consider any advice, particularly from elected Members. To be frank about it, it is unlikely I will reverse a decision made just 12 months ago.

Other Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: The deficit target of 5.1% of GDP to which the Deputy refers is the maximum general government deficit in 2014 that the Government is required to deliver under the excessive deficit procedure in the Stability and Growth Pact. This is part of an agreed consolidation path that Ireland will follow to restore the public finances to sustainability. The European Commission, the International...

Other Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: It is a fine judgment. The main purpose of this budget is to position us to exit the bailout programme. We are being watched by the international community and the markets. If we just cut it to 5.1% and bring it in as a deficit, there is a risk of drift. These matters are never that precise. As the year goes on one could come out on the wrong side of any storm that blows up....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: The 9% VAT rate was a pump-priming exercise and like all pump-priming exercises, one primes the pump, the engine fires and when the engine is going, one does not need to prime the pump again. We must measure whether the industry can now go without special measures and, like any other sector, pay the VAT rate which applies to it. On the issue of cost, part of the jobs initiative was that we...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: There is only a discrepancy if one puts a ring around the jobs initiative back in May 2011 and assumes that the Government never took any other initiative on job creation subsequently. The jobs initiative was rolled into the wider jobs programme under the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. Enormous amounts of money have been spent on job creation measures...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: Is that in the Deputy's constituency?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: It is a general principle of taxation that, as far as possible, income from all sources should be subject to taxation. In line with this principle, the majority of social welfare payments are reckonable as income for tax purposes. These include long-term payments such as disablement benefit, the State pension, widows', invalidity and blind pensions, carer's allowance and the one parent...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: As I said, it is a question of equity. Disablement benefit is taxed, as are State pensions, widows' pensions, invalidity and blind pensions, carer's allowance and the one parent family payment. If one has an income from work and a benefit in excess from social welfare, the general principle is that it is taxed. Maternity benefit was an exception and, in some circumstances, this led to a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: In the times we are in and in trying to fix the mess Fianna Fáil left behind, one is left with bad choices. One is measuring one choice against another. When the Deputy’s neighbours do their shopping, they pay VAT and excise. Why should they be the people who carry the burden when other people at work on an extra payment should not pay tax? I know the Deputy has an argument,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fiscal Policy (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: As stated in my Department's statement of strategy for the period 2011 to 2014, one of our principal goals is to create a resilient Irish economy founded on sustainable and balanced growth and leading to significant increases in employment numbers. I stress that all of the economic policies of the Government, be they on repairing the banking sector or public finances or bringing down the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fiscal Policy (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: We have no shortage of advice from some of the celebrity economists attached to some of our business schools or from various people who worked in the IMF over the years. We read all the advice. Sometimes it misses the point and at other times it is accurate. It is true that one of the big problems facing us is long-term unemployment. What has happened since we entered Government is that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Fiscal Policy (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: I would listen to the advice of any world-renowned expert or economist. I read a lot, but much of the advice is contradictory. One must adhere to one's best judgment. It is true that one can argue about the statistical composition of the live register, as the Deputy suggested, but it is not generally known that 90,000 people working part-time, all included, are on the live register. One...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: The 9% reduced VAT rate for tourism-related services was introduced in July 2011 as part of the Government's jobs initiative. The measure was designed to boost tourism and create additional jobs in that sector. With regard to the economic impact on the tourism sector due to the introduction of the 9% VAT rate, the most recent data available from the CSO on economic growth broken down by...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Budget 2014 Issues (3 Oct 2013)

Michael Noonan: The target we must achieve is at least 5.1% to be operating in accordance with the programme. For reasons of market sentiment it is probably important to beat the target. At present, without having the full data available to me, I hope to bring in a deficit in the high fours. I think that would be sufficient to give the kind of market confidence we need on exiting. They will also be...