Wednesday, 21 Nov 2012

Written Answers Nos. 61-68

Tax Yield

Questions (61)

Ciara Conway

Question:

61. Deputy Ciara Conway asked the Minister for Finance with regard to the one percent levy on life funds, the amount that has been collected to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51747/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the yield of Stamp Duties from the Life Insurance Levy, from introduction in 2009 to date in 2012, is as set out in the following table.

Year	€m
2009	8.7
2010	45.03
2011	31.6
2012 (to end October)	18.89 (provisional)

The Life Insurance Levy is a Stamp Duty paid into the Exchequer.

Tax Rebates

Questions (62)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

62. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the position regarding correspondence sent by a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11 to the Revenue Commissioners regarding an application for a refund of DIRT. [51757/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the person concerned submitted an application in August 2012 for a refund of Exit Tax, not DIRT. The Exit Tax was deducted by a life assurance company from a payment made on the maturity of a life policy held by the person and his wife.

In accordance with the provisions of section 730GA of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, for the purposes of a claim for exemption from income tax under section 189 of that Act, the amount of the payment made to the policy holder is deemed to be a net amount from the gross equivalent of which income tax at the appropriate rate has been deducted.

However, in order to qualify for a repayment of income tax under section 189 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, certain conditions must be satisfied. Firstly, the payment must be made to or in respect of an individual who is permanently incapacitated by reason of mental or physical infirmity from maintaining himself or herself. Secondly, the payment must be made following the institution of a civil action for damages, or an assessment of a claim for damages by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, in respect of personal injury giving rise to that mental or physical infirmity, or must derive from the investment of the monies received from such an action or assessment.

The person concerned submitted medical evidence of disability for himself and his wife. However, he doesn’t satisfy the conditions for the exemption under section 189 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which are very specific. In the circumstances, no refund is due in respect of any Exit Tax related to the payment made to him by the life assurance company on maturity of the life policy held by the person and his wife.

NAMA Debtor Agreements

Questions (63)

Gerry Adams

Question:

63. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Finance if the National Asset Management Agency can provide a geographical analysis of its advances to developers, both approved advances and actual cash advanced, to include Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain, Europe and further afield. [51782/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

NAMA informs me that it cannot provide all the details requested by the Deputy in the time available. NAMA has undertaken to provide me with this information within the next week and, accordingly, I will issue a reply to the Deputy at that stage.

Tax Reliefs Application

Questions (64)

Finian McGrath

Question:

64. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if he will extend the deadline for the mortgage tax relief for first-time buyers as many first-time buyers are waiting for the various interested parties to complete the sale of their new home and may miss this deadline which is the end of 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51794/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

The position is, as I stated in my Budget day speech on 6 December 2011, and on many occasions in this House since, that mortgage interest relief for principal private residences will no longer be available to house purchasers who purchase after the end of 2012 and will be fully abolished from 2018. This means that a loan will have to be drawn down on or before 31 December 2012 in order to qualify for this relief. I have no plans to review this decision and I believe that more than adequate notice of this decision has been provided.

As you will appreciate, I receive numerous requests for the introduction of new tax reliefs and the extension of existing ones. You will also appreciate that I must be mindful of the public finances and the many demands on the Exchequer given the current significant budgetary constraints. Tax reliefs, no matter how worthwhile in themselves, reduce the tax base and make general reform of the tax system that much more difficult.

Ministerial Meetings

Questions (65)

Shane Ross

Question:

65. Deputy Shane Ross asked the Minister for Finance the number of meetings he has had with the chairmen and chief executives of all the covered banks, individually and collectively, since he became Minister for Finance; the dates of the meetings; the topics discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51800/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

The information is set out in the table:

Institution	No. of Meetings	Date	Attendees	Chairman	CEO
PTSB	3	17 May 2011	Previous CEO & Chairman	Mr Alan Kelly	Mr Kevin Murphy*
		10 June 2011	Previous CEO & Chairman	Mr Alan Kelly	Mr Kevin Murphy
		11 July 2012	CEO		Mr Jeremy Masding*
AIB	1	19 Sept 2011	CEO & Chairman	Mr David Hodgkinson	Mr David Duffy
BOI	4	29 March 2011	CEO & Governor	Mr Pat Molloy	Mr Richie Boucher
		3 May 2011	Governor	Mr Pat Molloy
		22 March 2012	CEO & Governor	Mr Pat Molloy	Mr Richie Boucher
		5 April 2012	Governor Designate	Mr Archie Kane*
IBRC	5	24 March 2011	Chairman	Mr Alan Dukes
		2 June 2011	Chairman & CEO	Mr Alan Dukes	Mr Mike Aynsley
		25 Jul 2012	Chairman & CEO	Mr Alan Dukes	Mr Mike Aynsley
		29 Aug 2012	Chairman	Mr Alan Dukes
		5 Oct 2012	Chairman	Mr Alan Dukes

* Mr Kevin Murphy is now CEO of Irish Life.

Mr Jeremy Masding was appointed CEO of PTSB in February 2012

Mr Archie Kane was appointed Governor of Bank of Ireland in June 2012.

Officials from my Department meet with representatives of the various banks on a regular ongoing basis – including a monthly senior management meeting with each covered institution at which the CEO would usually attend.

A variety of issues were discussed at these meetings. All issues discussed are sensitive matters and as this information is privileged and confidential it is not for publication.

Exchequer Revenue

Questions (66)

Martin Heydon

Question:

66. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Finance the proportion of every euro spent in the State that remains in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51825/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

Ireland is generally considered to be a particularly open economy with imports accounting for over three quarters of GDP. A considerable share of spending by households and firms leaves the economy on imported goods, while at the same time a considerable share of the outputs of Irish firms is exported abroad leading to payment coming into Ireland. Evidence of the high import content of final demand can be seen in the Balance of Payments figure, which shows the current account moving from a deficit of -5.7% of GDP in 2008 to a surplus of 1.1% in 2011. This suggests that the large contraction in final demand over the period contained a large amount of imported goods and services.

More detail on the import content of spending by individual sectors can be found in Table 5 of the CSO’s input-output tables for 2005, the latest year for which these data are available, at the link below. The ‘import of goods and services’ row estimates the share (at the margin) of each euro that is spent on imported goods for spending by a range of sectors in the economy, ranging from zero to one. For example the import share of ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ is 0.335, as evident from the bottom of page 38. The release also contains detailed background information.

http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/economy/2005/inputoutput_2005.pdf

Semi-State Bodies Remuneration

Questions (67, 68)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

67. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide details of the number of semi-State and State agency executives and employees on an agency by agency basis who have salaries of more than €100,000 per year; if he will provide this information in tabular form, detailing any additional allowances, bonuses and the annual cost to the Exchequer of any pension packages to such employees, in terms of tax reliefs or other costs; if he will provide this information for the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52131/12]

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

68. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide details of the number of former semi-State agency executives or employees, on an agency basis, in receipt of pensions in excess of €90,000 per year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52145/12]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 68 together.

The table sets out the information requested by the Deputy.

Semi-State and State agency executives and employees that have salaries of more than €100,000 per year

The legislation which established the NTMA in 1990 deliberately positioned it outside of public service structures with operational freedom to negotiate market-competitive salaries. Under the NTMA business model there are no general pay grades and staff are employed on the basis of confidential individually negotiated contracts. The NTMA’s business model is designed to support it in acting commercially to achieve its business objectives. It has enabled the NTMA to compete with the private sector to attract and retain staff with specialist and highly marketable skills – often in mid-career. It has been essential in enabling the NTMA to staff itself with the professional expertise necessary to carry out the new functions which successive Governments have assigned to it. The NTMA has seen a significant growth in staff numbers in recent years as a result of new functions assigned to it, particularly NAMA. All NAMA staff are employees of the NTMA and under Section 42 of the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009, the NTMA assigns staff to NAMA. NAMA reimburses the NTMA the costs of staff assigned to NAMA

Remuneration of NTMA employees (including taxable benefits where applicable) is as follows:

	Number
Over €100,000	159
	500

The Public Service Pension Deduction is applied to NTMA employees. All fifteen NTMA employees whose salaries exceed €200,000 agreed to my request of December 2011 that they waive 15% of salary or such amount of salary as exceeds €200,000 if application of the full 15% reduction would bring their salary to below €200,000.

The Fiscal Advisory Council has made a nil return in relation to this question.

The Central Bank is not a semi-state agency nor is it exchequer funded. It is an independent body under the aegis of the Minister for Finance.

Former semi-State agency executives or employees in receipt of pensions in excess of 90,000 per year

NTMA employees are members of the NTMA defined benefit superannuation scheme or else have Personal Retirement Savings Accounts. The pension benefits of members of the NTMA superannuation scheme prior to 1 January 2010 are based on final salary. The pension benefits of members who joined the scheme on or after 1 January 2010 are based on career average earnings. Unlike most public pension schemes which are funded on a pay as you go basis the NTMA superannuation scheme is a funded scheme. Pension entitlements are within the standard entitlements in the model public sector defined benefit superannuation scheme. Pension contribution payments are not made to individual employees – they are paid into the scheme. The level of potential pension payments to members is dependent on length of service, based on final salary or career average earnings, with 1/80th of salary accruing for each year of service. There are 3 persons in receipt of pensions from the NTMA in excess of €90,000 per annum.

The Offices under the ambit of my Department are not semi-State agencies.