Results 141-160 of 3,454 for speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The memorandum of understanding which is entered into between the European Commission and the Ukraine Government makes clear that the objective is to support Ukraine's macrofinancial stability given the astute financing needs triggered by the war circumstances. It aims to support structural reforms aimed at improving overall macroeconomic management, strengthening economic governance and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Chair for highlighting that and I am more than happy to answer his very reasonable question. Sections 3 and 6 are very alike and use some of the same structure and format in terms of legislative drafting. This Bill is the overall enabling provision for how the funds may be used for the future. Obviously, in terms of legislative drafting, the words "may" and "shall" are very...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I cannot answer that at this stage because it has not been agreed yet. It is the subject of discussions at EU level at this stage. I am certainly happy to come back to the Deputy once that is agreed, but we cannot comment on it yet because the next MFF has not been agreed. It is being agreed within that context.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I ask the Deputy to forgive me. I thought he was talking about the next Ukraine facility.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Is the Deputy referring to section 6 of the Bill?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Section 6 is part of what we have just discussed. It is the provision for the EBRD for the-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: We have agreed sections 17 and 18.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am happy to go back over it, however. Section 18, which is the substantive piece in that regard, provides for our entry into the MFA+ contribution agreement. It is required to facilitate the MFA+ package for 2023. As we have discussed, Ireland may contribute to the support to an aggregate amount of more than €63.625 million to comply with the obligations under the MFA+ agreement,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Forgive me, let me get-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: On the MFA+ contribution agreement, the Commission has agreed the signature process with 25 member states for the MFA 2 guarantee agreements guaranteeing €5.72 billion out of €6 billion of loans. Ireland and Denmark have to finalise the agreement. As of last month, 21 member states were on schedule to have contribution agreements finished, with France, Denmark, Italy, Ireland,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Once the final costs are fixed, the Commission will communicate that. However, yes, that is our key.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: On current planning, the first payment call will be sent in early February. I do not have a date for when the final costs are likely to be fixed. It is the same agreement text for all member states, of course.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am not exactly sure when that is. Let me come back to the Deputy on that. The costs will be stable over the three-year period and so we will know that, but I just do not know when the final costs will be fixed.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The efforts by the European Union to try to place as much oversight, reporting and transparency as can be placed on any state that is on a war footing are very important. They are the sorts of efforts that this national Parliament would want to see and that the European Union would want to see not just in terms of good governance now, but also as a pathway for Ukraine to move to this state....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I do not have enough information about that to be able to answer that now. Ukraine is under attack from Russia and we have a period of extreme global instability. The EU, as a stable group of countries committed to the values of human rights and democracy, needs to provide appropriate support for a democratic state that is under attack. We need to help it develop its systems within that...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: It is not that I am not capable of reading up on it. It is not that I am not aware. It is just that I am aware that I am here commenting as Minister of State and I am trying to be as careful, factual and reasonable as I possibly can be. It is not that I am uneducated on the point.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The Deputy suggested I read up.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Deputy Doherty has been finance spokesperson for many years, much longer than I have been involved in the Department of Finance or in this portfolio. He will therefore know a great deal better than I do the institutions such as the EIB, the EBRD and others, and that they have oversight personnel not just working throughout those institutions but on the ground where funds are going to make...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: We talked about the memorandum of understanding between the Commission and the Ukraine Government, making very clear the purpose of the funds and how they were to be used. Article 5 of the memorandum of understanding, which I set out earlier, clearly sets out that the authorities provide monthly reports on revenues and expenditures of the state budget at the level of the major expenditure...