Written Answers Nos 79-85
79. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of Garda Operation Thistle, including the quantity of drugs seized; the number of persons arrested and charged; the number of convictions obtained to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13964/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that I have requested the information sought from An Garda Síóchána and I will revert to the Deputy when the information is to hand.
80. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the cost of the security arrangements for the visit of Charles Windsor to County Donegal this week in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13972/16]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the allocation of necessary resources to ensure the safety of visiting dignitaries, having regard to the security considerations involved.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that a precise costing in respect of the visit of HRH Prince Charles to Donegal is not yet available. When the information is to hand, I will make it available to the Deputy.
81. Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of an application by a person (details supplied) for a visa; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13997/16]
View answerI am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the visa application referred to by the Deputy was received by the Irish Visa Office in Dublin on 20/05/2016. The application was approved on 30/05/2016 and the applicants were notified directly of this decision by the Visa Office on that date.
The Deputy may wish to note that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
In addition, applicants may themselves e-mail queries directly to INIS (visamail@justice.ie).
82. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Finance following the recent publication of Costs of Doing Business in Ireland 2016, which reported that new businesses are paying 80% more on interest rates than the average in the EU for loans, the steps he is taking to facilitate affordable loan credit to small businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13984/16]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that I, as Minister for Finance, have no direct function in the relationship between the banks and their customers. I have no statutory function in relation to the banking decisions made by individual lending institutions at any particular time and these are taken by the board and management of the relevant institution. This includes decisions in relation to product interest rates as determined by the banks from time to time.
It should be noted that in the most recent Department of Finance SME credit demand survey, covering the six month period to September 2015, only 1% of SMEs that did not seek credit said the reason was because it was too expensive to borrow. The same survey notes that, among those SMEs with outstanding loans, the average claimed cost of credit across all outstanding loans is 4.7%. Further, close to a quarter of SMEs with outstanding loans report a very low cost of credit between 0-2%.
In the latest Central Bank of Ireland report on Trends in Business Credit and Deposits: Q4 2015, the total weighted average interest rate on new non-financial SME loan draw-downs during Q4 2015 was 4.52 per cent. This represents a 58 basis point decline over 2015. In contrast, the existing stock of Irish SME loans carry a lower weighted average interest rate; recorded at 3.16 per cent at end-Q4.
This Government recognises that small businesses play a central role in the sustainable recovery of the Irish economy. To facilitate this, Government policy since 2011 has been focused on ensuring that all viable SMEs have access to an appropriate supply of credit from a diverse range of bank and non-bank sources.
My Department has been involved in a range of initiatives to encourage access to credit for small and medium sized businesses and the SME State Bodies Group chaired by my Department provides a forum for the development and implementation of policy measures to enhance SMEs' access to a stable and appropriate supply of finance.
One such policy measure is the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, whose goal is to ensure access to flexible funding for Irish SMEs by facilitating the provision of:
- Flexible products with longer maturity and capital repayment flexibility, subject to credit approval;
- Lower cost funding to financial institutions which is passed on to SMEs;
- Market access for new entrants to the SME lending market, creating real competition.
The Government's aim for the SBCI is to enhance the range and profile of SME finance providers in Ireland. The SBCI is achieving this by working with existing and new providers to develop specific funding products and by supporting new entrants to the SME lending market through allocating funding to a number of non-bank SME finance providers. The SBCI is also pursuing its objective of driving competition within the SME funding market through the provision of funding to a broad range of potential lending partners.
The SBCI publishes results bi-annually. To the end of December 2015, the SBCI has lent just under €172 million to circa 4,600 SMEs. The average loan size was €37,000 and the loans were for a variety of purposes including investment, working capital and refinancing. The SMEs who received SBCI finance were from a variety of business sectors. 85% of the lending was to SMEs based outside of Dublin (West 13%, Midlands 7%, Mid West 14%, South West 19%, South East 11%, Mid East 10%, border region 11%). The SBCI will publish half year results at the beginning of the third quarter of 2016 for the first half of the year.
83. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Finance to examine a matter (details supplied) regarding local property tax. [13849/16]
View answerI am advised by Revenue that the property in question was remediated from pyrite in April 2009 and on that basis is not entitled to the exemption, which was incorrectly claimed by the person concerned.
Regulations made in 2013 by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG Regulations) describe the procedures that must be followed in assessing and testing a property for pyrite damage and in certifying the level of damage. The DECLG Regulations are based on procedures described in an Irish Standard published by the National Standards. The Regulations in question - the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Pyrite Exemption) Regulations 2013 ( S.I. 147/2013) - came into effect on 2 May 2013.
Properties that had been damaged by pyrite but were remediated prior to publication of the DECLG Regulations on 2 May 2013 are not eligible for the LPT exemption.
Revenue has been in contact with the person concerned in regard to the property tax due for 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 and is willing to consider a phased payment arrangement if that helps the person concerned to deal with this matter.
84. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 59 and 79 of 26 May 2016, to answer these questions again using the current parameters within which USC is charged, to provide for the non-indexation of USC bands and thresholds and to take into account the buoyancy of USC annual receipts over the period, given that USC receipts are forecast to reach €4.9 billion by 2021. [13874/16]
View answerThe following table sets out the broad projected revenues that would be generated by the Universal Social Charge (USC) for each of the next five years assuming that no provision is made for the indexation of USC thresholds and bands. It should be noted that for 2017, Exchequer USC receipts are impacted by the carryover effect of Budget 2016 changes and timing effects.
|
Forecast for USC |
€ billion* |
|
2017 |
c. €3.9 |
|
2018 |
c. €4.7 |
|
2019 |
c. €4.8 |
|
2020 |
c. €5.2 |
|
2021 |
c. €5.6 |
*Exchequer receipts basis
With regard to the Deputy's request for an estimate of the individual annual costs of four variations of a 5-year plan to reduce or abolish the USC, taking into account projected buoyancy of USC receipts over the 5-year period, I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the information sought by the Deputy is not currently available.
The estimated cost to the Exchequer of the Universal Social Charge (USC) measures suggested by the Deputy in Parliamentary Questions Numbers 59 and 79 of 26 May 2016 were generated using an income tax model maintained for the purpose of estimating the effect of budgetary changes to the income tax system. These figures were estimated by reference to 2016 incomes, using latest actual data for the year 2013, adjusted as necessary for income, self-employment and employment trends in the interim. I am informed by Revenue that it would not be possible to extend the model to include the ability to forecast over multiple future reference years at the full range of income levels without undertaking an extensive and costly development of the model. However, Revenue are currently preparing the model for reference year 2017 (in advance of Budget 2017) and updates with regard to the year 2017 will therefore be available in due course.
85. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the impediments to an Irish driver seeking motor insurance from an insurance company operating in another EU state; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13875/16]
View answerThe provision of motor insurance cover is a commercial matter for insurance companies, which is based on a proper assessment of the risks they are accepting and the making of adequate provisioning to meet these risks. In my role as the Minister for Finance, I have responsibility for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation.
The current legal and regulatory framework for the provision of insurance in the European Economic Area (EEA), and the supervision of that activity, is prescribed by European Union Law in the Life and Non-Life Insurance Directives or Solvency II. The provision of insurance throughout the EEA on a freedom of services basis and a freedom of establishment basis (i.e. a branch) within this framework is predicated upon the absence of internal market frontiers and the mutual recognition of the authorisation of insurance undertakings by Member States. Therefore, in general terms, there should be no impediment to an Irish driver seeking motor insurance from an insurance company operating in another EU Member State. It should be noted, however, that it is up to each insurance company to decide on which jurisdictions or locations in which it will underwrite insurance risk. Insurance companies would generally operate in jurisdictions where they are familiar with the market.
Many insurance companies which are authorised in other EU Member States sell insurance into Ireland. I am informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that any EU authorised undertaking wishing to offer motor insurance in Ireland is allowed to do so subject to complying with the local 'general good' requirements for motor insurance. These 'general good' requirements include membership of the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) and being a signatory to the Declined Cases Agreement operated by Insurance Ireland. Both Irish authorised and EU authorised undertakings are required to comply with these requirements. Other EU Member States will have their own but similar 'general good' requirements for motor insurance.
The Central Bank informs me that there are currently approximately 15 Irish authorised undertakings and a further 22 EU authorised undertakings offering motor insurance cover in Ireland. The full list can be accessed at www.mibi.ie.
