Results 15,881-15,900 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade in Tobacco (22 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the agreements between major tobacco manufacturers, the EU and participating Member States provide for annual payments to the EU and to qualifying Member States over a specified period of years, and for additional payments in respect of certain seizures of cigarettes. The following is a link to the section of the European Anti-Fraud Office...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Performance (22 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: My Department monitors the overall performance of the economy and of individual sectors on an ongoing basis. Key sectors are subject to scrutiny as part of this process and also in reviews undertaken by line Departments to which my Department contributes or supports. For example, under the Action Plan for Jobs 2013, my Department is co-ordinating actions dealing with the property market....

Other Questions: State Banking Sector Regulation (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: As on all matters, this is a democracy and the Government, which has a majority in the House and is elected to govern the country, governs it. The Minister for Finance's mandate comes from the electorate and he takes advice from the appropriate authorities and makes decisions as best he can. That is the way it works. The NPRFC is the body that holds the shares and the officials from my...

Other Questions: NAMA Loans Sale (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy is aware, NAMA is obliged under section 10 of the NAMA Act to obtain the best achievable financial return to the State on the assets acquired by it. I am advised by NAMA that there has been no change in its strategy. For any particular asset or group of assets, NAMA assesses whether the best return to the taxpayer is achieved through the sale of the underlying property by a...

Other Questions: NAMA Loans Sale (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: As the Deputy knows, NAMA operates under the NAMA Act and, in general, it operates totally independent of politics. The Deputy knows that while one may inquire for information from NAMA, it is a criminal offence to make representations to NAMA. The same rules apply to the Minister for Finance as to everybody else, apart from the specific bars the Minister has under the Act. The way I...

Other Questions: NAMA Loans Sale (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: As I have said, it is an independent organisation put in place by the Houses of the Oireachtas and I have confidence in it as an organisation. I believe it is doing what it says on the tin. It is behaving in accordance with its mandate and it is profitable at present. I have no plans to introduce amending legislation at present and I am not going to interfere with its process either. It...

Other Questions: State Banking Sector Regulation (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: The salary paid to the CEO of Bank of Ireland was negotiated by the relevant Ministers in the previous Government, which was led by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. While we would like the salary to be lower, we have been legally unable to dismantle it. This Government has provided for a much lower ceiling for remuneration for CEOs. I will not take any lectures from Deputy McGrath...

Other Questions: State Banking Sector Regulation (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I would like to address the issue of the abstention at the AGM. As we have just 15% of the vote, our decision to abstain, vote against or vote for was not going to influence the outcome. All the other investors voted in favour of what was recommended. I gave my reasons previously. I think they are valid. I think the decision to abstain was a very good one. Arising from the...

Other Questions: State Banking Sector Regulation (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: That was the advice given by Deputy Ross in 2004.

Other Questions: State Banking Sector Regulation (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Ross heard it all right.

Other Questions: Financial Instruments (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I will do that.

Other Questions: State Banking Sector Regulation (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I can confirm for the Deputy that my Department takes very seriously its responsibilities in regard to safeguarding the State's assets and maximising the return to the taxpayers of the funds invested on their behalf. In this regard, a number of directions have been issued to the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission, NPRFC, since the directed investments were acquired pursuant to my...

Other Questions: Financial Instruments (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I have had no representation from people in the industry on expanding or watering down MiFID but there may have been representations to my Department. If Deputy Doherty tables a parliamentary question for written answer, I will make sure it is answered adequately. The best way to reply to all three Deputies is to give a short summary of the current Council text. It states: First, more...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: That is an issue that we will consider in the context of the budget. It is far too early in the year to be talking about taxes.

Other Questions: Financial Instruments (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: The MiFID, markets in financial instruments directive, file was included on the ECOFIN agenda as part of the any other business legislative updates on key files and there was very little discussion on the issues in the file. The purpose of the discussion was to update the member states on the current state of play of this dossier and to reiterate my hope that the Council can reach an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: Accessing credit is a problem for small businesses. We have strengthened both the banks and the credit union movement to enable them to provide credit, but, in addition, we have introduced the seed capital scheme and the bank guarantee scheme. We have also set up the Credit Control Office to enable small businesses whose banks have refused loans to appeal to the Director of Credit Control...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Remuneration (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: Surely nobody in this House is advocating that the banks should continue trading unprofitably and that Irish taxpayers should be asked to put more money in to keep salaries up and pensions high. That is a ridiculous proposition. Banks must cut their cloth according to their measure, but I will not dictate the specific terms of how they cut it. I have said that I want to see reductions of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises Supports (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: In the November 2012 medium-term fiscal statement, my Department published a paper on the importance of small business to the Irish economy. The paper highlighted that small and medium-sized businesses, SMEs, make up more than 99% of businesses in Ireland and account for almost 70% of people employed. To that end, as part of budget 2013, I included a ten-point tax reform plan containing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Remuneration (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I am not neutral on the method the banks may use to achieve payroll savings. We are talking about a reduction of between 6% and 10% in the cost base of each institution. The Deputy will recall that Mercer did an evaluation of the three institutions concerned, which we published. Arising from that, the Government decided that the cost bases of the banks were still too high. They are all...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Credit Union Issues (21 May 2013)

Michael Noonan: I have been urged by all sides of the House to come up with solutions to the problem of personal debt. We have spent a lot of time on it and we are now at the point where the system is beginning to work properly. The primary legislation is the insolvency Act. It is just ready to come online but there are circumstances where problems could be resolved better informally. The Central Bank is...