Results 17,561-17,580 of 33,392 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Parliamentary Questions Data (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The number of Parliamentary Questions which have been processed by my Department is 2,814 in 2016, 3,898 in 2017 and 3,316  to date in 2018.  Accounting for transfers, disallowances and withdrawals of PQs, the following are the statistics for answered PQs: 2,528 in 2016; 3,434 in 2017; and 2,798 in 2018 (as of 6th December).  The Department does...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Book Sales (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that a reduction in the level of non performing loans (NPLs) across European banks is a major priority for the banking regulator, the SSM. The Irish banks have made significant progress in this regard since the height of the crisis with NPLs at the banks in which the State has a shareholding reducing by 70% from €54bn to €16bn at end-June 2018. A major...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Licence Applications (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It was not possible for the Central Bank of Ireland to provide the information sought in the time available and, therefore, I will make arrangements to provide the Deputy with the information in line with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The role of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, the SBCI, is to provide effective financial supports to Irish SMEs and encourage competition and innovation in the SME finance market while also ensuring the efficient and effective use of available EU resources. The SBCI, as the Deputy is aware, does not provide financing directly to small businesses using an on-lending model. The...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, the SBCI, is Ireland’s national promotional institution. Its strategic mission is to increase the availability of appropriately priced, flexible funding to viable Irish SMEs by delivering effective financial supports to Irish SMEs that address failures in the Irish credit market, while encouraging competition and innovation and ensuring the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, the SBCI, is a Designated Activity Cody (DAC) under the Companies Act 2014 and has an independent Board of Directors.  In relation to the first part of the Deputy’s question regarding members of the SBCI Board, the SBCI is a public body and is subject to the Revised Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016, which...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The purpose of the SBCI is to deliver effective financial supports to Irish SMEs. The SBCI does not provide funding directly to small businesses, rather it operates an on-lending model which involves working through partner finance providers, known as on-lenders. The SBCI currently has three bank and three non-bank on-lending partners. I take it that the Deputy is asking whether the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Paradise Papers (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that identifying and confronting non-compliance is a key focus for its work, and that this includes the use of offshore accounts, trusts or funds to evade tax. Revenue’s work in this regard, including the Foreign Income and Assets Disclosure initiative last year, has yielded some €1.2 billion to the Exchequer to date. I am also advised that in...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry Regulation (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 77 to 79, inclusive, together. The Central Bank of Ireland announced on 28 November that it had received information that Qudos Insurance A/S, a Denmark-based insurer, had entered into solvent liquidation. On 4 December, Qudos Insurance A/S announced that it is currently not paying insurance claims. The Central Bank is actively monitoring developments and...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I would like to advise the Deputy that I am not in a position to comment on the activities of individual taxpayers. I can however give the following overview of Section 110 of the TCA 1997 as it relates to the securitisation of mortgages by banks . Section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 sets out a regime for the taxation of special purpose companies set up to securitise...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Lending (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank of Ireland has an overall and independent responsibility to promote and protect financial stability and the mortgage lending measures are an important tool available to the Bank for that purpose.  As the Deputy is aware, the Central Bank recently published its 2018 review of the residential mortgage macro prudential rules (available at this ) and the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Licensed Moneylenders (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank is independent in the performance of its functions in relation to the granting of licences for regulated activities and it would not be appropriate for me to contact them in relation to the granting of a licence to a specific applicant. The Register of Moneylenders, which is available to the public on the Central Bank’s website, sets out details such as the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic and Monetary Union (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I meet regularly with all my European Ministerial colleagues at the Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings to discuss the deepening of Economic and Monetary Union. I am also aware that German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz gave a speech at Humboldt University in Berlin last month, during which he touched on many of the elements we have been discussing in these meetings. We have been working to an...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Reports (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I assume the Deputy is referencing the Fiscal Assessment Report (FAR) as published on 28 November by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, in relation to Budget 2019. This publication is in fulfilment of the Council's legal mandate to assess and endorse the Government's macro-economic and budgetary forecasts.   Although I have no arrangements currently to meet with the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Agreements (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Ireland’s corporate tax residence rules were amended in Finance Act 2014 to shut down an aggressive tax planning structure referred to as the ‘Double Irish’.  Subsequently, reports emerged of a new alternative aggressive tax planning structure, known as the ‘Single Malt’ that sought to achieve a similar objective.   I understand that the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Parliamentary Questions Data (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The number of Parliamentary Questions received by my Department is set out in the following table: Year PQs Received 2016 1,051 2017 1,424 2018 1,432 My Department is committed to answering Parliamentary Questions in a timely and consistent manner and almost all questions are answered directly.   The following table sets out the number of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates Process (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Due to the scale of Government expenditure and the cash basis of Government accounting, the need for Supplementary Estimates can arise for a number of reasons, including policy decisions, timing issues and overspends. Supplementary Estimates are an important element of our expenditure management toolkit, allowing for the proper alignment of resources with allocations. The attached document...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Forensic Science Ireland Laboratory (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Office of Public Works (OPW) is managing the delivery of the new Forensic Science Laboratory at the Backweston campus. The Deputy should be aware that enabling works for Forensic Science Ireland that commenced in October 2017 have now been completed. However, due to recent changes in international forensic laboratory standards, the merging of the Garda Technical...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works Projects (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Engineering consultant tenders were revived on the 10th September 2018. They are presently being assessed. Planning application is due to be lodged in Quarter 4 2018. The programme for the tender and construction stages of the project will be confirmed when the planning permission process is completed.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Assessments (12 Dec 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: A flood study of the Hazelhatch area of Celbridge, County Kildare, carried by consultants on behalf the local authority, highlighted the need for a re-assessment of the local hydrology for the area. The Office of Public Works (OPW) and Kildare County Council have  jointly developed the Project Brief for this further study that will be commissioned by Kildare County Council.