Written Answers Nos. 336-353
336. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the estimated value of the Irish residential mortgage book; and if there is a breakdown of mortgages by value on a year-by-year uptake from 2002 to date in 2012. [38930/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraFigures available from the Central Bank show that the total outstanding credit advanced to Irish resident private households for house purchase is 80,012 million euro as at June 2012. These figures are available on http://www.centralbank.ie/polstats/stats/cmab/Pages/HouseholdCredit.aspx.
I have requested a breakdown of mortgages by value on a year by year uptake from 2002 to date in 2012 and will forward to the Deputy once received from the Central Bank. The table shows the total outstanding credit advanced to Irish resident private households for house purchase from March 2003 to June 2012.
|
Year |
Month |
Millions euro |
|
2003 |
Mar |
45,527 |
|
- |
Jun |
47,185 |
|
- |
Sep |
50,924 |
|
2003 |
Dec |
54,992 |
|
2004 |
Mar |
58,246 |
|
- |
Jun |
62,268 |
|
- |
Sep |
69,065 |
|
2004 |
Dec |
73,706 |
|
2005 |
Mar |
77,216 |
|
- |
Jun |
82,645 |
|
- |
Sep |
88,543 |
|
2005 |
Dec |
94,718 |
|
2006 |
Mar |
100,554 |
|
- |
Jun |
104,897 |
|
- |
Sep |
108,580 |
|
2006 |
Dec |
111,303 |
|
2007 |
Mar |
113,084 |
|
- |
Jun |
116,434 |
|
- |
Sep |
121,243 |
|
2007 |
Dec |
123,722 |
|
2008 |
Mar |
125,091 |
|
- |
Jun |
121,260 |
|
- |
Sep |
123,726 |
|
2008 |
Dec |
114,978 |
|
2009 |
Mar |
114,266 |
|
- |
Jun |
114,306 |
|
- |
Sep |
110,146 |
|
2009 |
Dec |
110,210 |
|
2010 |
Mar |
109,434 |
|
- |
Jun |
107,676 |
|
- |
Sep |
107,813 |
|
2010 |
Dec |
99,578 |
|
2011 |
Mar |
98,851 |
|
- |
Jun |
98,335 |
|
- |
Sep |
97,964 |
|
2011 |
Dec |
80,396 |
|
2012 |
Mar |
79,874 |
|
- |
Jun |
80,012 |
337. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the position regarding correspondence sent by a person (details supplied) in County Cork to the Revenue Commissioners regarding an income tax matter. [38937/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the correspondence referred to in the Deputy’s question has been dealt with and that an Amended Tax Credit Certificate was issued to the individual on 5 September 2012. If tax has been over deducted in 2012, this will be refunded by the pension provider.
338. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Finance if he has concluded the public consultation process on dealing with the rules pertaining to tax exiles; and the considerations he will take to change these rules to ensure they are more stringent. [38939/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Programme for Government indicated that, as part of its fiscal policy, the Government will ensure that “tax exiles” make a fair contribution to the Exchequer. In Budget 2012 I abolished the “citizenship condition” for payment of the Domicile Levy to ensure that individuals could not avoid the levy by renouncing their citizenship. I also stated that I intend to keep the contentious issue of the tax treatment of “tax exiles” (which is linked to the tax residence rules) under constant review. The Programme for Government update in March 2012 confirmed the commitment to undertake a consultation process on residence issues in 2012 to inform preparation for further changes in 2013.
In May I launched a public consultation on tax residence rules wherein I invited interested parties to make submissions on possible revisions to the current residence rules for the taxation of individuals. This consultation process has now concluded. A total of eight submissions have been received and these will be published in due course, as indicated when the consultation was announced. My officials are considering the submissions and will be advising me on possible further changes as part of the preparations for Budget 2013.
339. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance his views on a query regarding the universal social charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38980/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe position is that the Government has fulfilled its commitment in the Programme for Government to carry out a review of the Universal Social Charge (USC). The Terms of Reference of the Review were broad and wide-ranging and included the following areas:
- Low paid income earners;
- Persons over 65;
- Medical Card Holders;
- Widows/Widowers;
- Self-employed;
- Public Service Pensioners;
- Employer contributions to PRSAs; and
- Any other issues (including any operational issues that have arisen in the administration of the charge).
The Review of the USC was published on my Department’s website on 23 January 2011. It can be obtained at www.finance.gov.ie.
As a result of the review, I increased the annual exemption threshold from €4,004 to €10,036 per annum with effect from 1 January 2012. It should be noted that the cost of proving this relief was offset by switching the collection of the USC from a week 1 basis to a cumulative basis from 1 January 2012. To provide further exemptions along the lines sought could not be justified given the current budgetary position.
340. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance the action he is taking to address the level of rejections for loans and overdrafts to small and medium-sized businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39061/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe banking system restructuring plan creates capacity for the two Pillar Banks, Bank of Ireland and AIB, to provide lending in excess of €30 billion from the period 2011-2013. SME and new mortgage lending for these banks is expected to be in the range of €16-20bn over this period. This lending capacity is incorporated into the banks’ deleveraging plans which allow for repayment of Central Bank funding through asset run-off and disposals over the period to 2013. The Government has imposed SME lending targets on the two domestic pillar banks for the three calendar years, 2011 to 2013. Both banks were required to sanction lending, including lending for working capital purposes, of at least €3 billion in 2011, €3.5 billion this year and €4 billion in 2013 for new or increased credit facilities to SMEs. Both banks achieved their 2011 targets.
The Credit Review Office (CRO) reviews decisions by the pillar banks to refuse, reduce or withdraw credit facilities (including applications for restructured credit facilities) from €1,000 up to €500,000. The Credit Review Office is overturning 60% of the decisions referred to them, supplying €6.9m of credit, supporting 683 jobs in the SME sector. I would appeal to SMEs who have been refused credit by banks to avail of the services of the CRO.
The Deputy should be aware that the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act provides for a scheme which will facilitate up to €40million in additional lending to microenterprises over the next five years. Furthermore, the Government is in the process of facilitating up to €150m per annum of additional credit through the Temporary Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme, designed for SME’s who, because of lack of collateral or because of the specialised sector they operate in, face difficulties in accessing bank credit.
341. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to amending the existing rules and regulations covering pension funds and the pension industry to allow for the early release of funds from pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39135/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are a number of reasons why, under existing policies, early withdrawals of pension savings are not permitted, the principal one being that pension schemes and plans (and the associated tax reliefs) are designed as long term savings vehicles based on the principle that the savings will be “locked away” until retirement. Otherwise, there would be little reason to treat pension savings more favourably from a tax point of view than other general savings.
A number of proposals have been made that individuals should be allowed access to their pension savings prior to retirement. Various rationales have been advanced to justify these proposals including that such access would allow those individuals to pay down mortgage and other debt and would otherwise provide a boost to economic activity.
This is not a simple matter. During 2011, at the request of the Government’s Economic Management Council (EMC), an Ad-hoc group was established under the chairmanship of the Department of Social Protection to consider the idea of allowing people to access their pension savings before pension age in order to assist them in paying down debt. The ad-hoc group presented a detailed report to the EMC in September 2011. The conclusions of the Ad-hoc Group report were that:
- There is no evidence that, in general, the group likely to be most affected by mortgage debt (or other debt) has access to sufficient pension savings to make a difference to their situation.
- The legislative and administrative implications for such a scheme would be extremely complex and would appear excessive given the overall impact.
- Longer term difficulties whereby people are not making adequate provision for their retirement would be exacerbated, with potential for increased demands on the State.
- Individuals cashing in their pension savings now would get poor value in current circumstances which they would struggle to replace in the future.
The “Keane Group” on mortgage arrears did not dispute these findings and early access to pension savings did not feature among the recommendations of that Group.
A more general scheme of early access to pension savings would present significant problems in terms of the proper targeting of the use of accessed funds and controls over potential abuse.
The tax treatment of pension savings for which I have responsibility is only one aspect of the broad policy of encouraging people to provide for an adequate income in retirement beyond the basic State pension. This policy area is the responsibility of my colleague, Ms Joan Burton TD, Minister for Social Protection, who I know is also aware of the proposals being made for early access to pension savings. The OECD is currently carrying out an independent review of long term pension policy in Ireland on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection. I have been advised, in response to a request from me in this matter, that the terms of reference of the independent review are such as to facilitate consideration of the issue of early access to pension savings and I would expect that the OECD review would deal with this issue.
342. Deputy Anne Ferris asked the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to ensure that State boards have at least 40% of each gender, as provided for in the programme for Government; the percentage at present; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39153/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn response to the Deputy’s question, information of membership of State Boards is as follows.
NTMA Advisory Committee
The Board consists of 83% per cent male membership and 17% female membership.
Membership is as follows:
David Byrne
Brendan McDonagh
Tytti Noras (F)
Donald C Roth
Hugh Cooney
John Moran
Vacancy
NPRF Commission
The Board consists of 86% per cent male membership and 14% per cent female membership.
Membership is as follows:
Paul Carty
John A Canning Jnr
Brian Hillary
Maurice Keane
Knut N. Kjaer
Frances Ruane (F)
John Corrigan
SCA Policy Committee
The Board consists of 71% per cent male membership and 29% per cent female membership.
Membership is as follows:
Noel Whelan (Chairman),
Niamh Moran (F)
Tony Delany
Christopher Moore
Ms. Wendy Thompson (F)
Mr. Charlie Hardy
Mr. Fachtna Murphy
NDFA Board
The Board consists of 75% per cent male membership and 25% per cent female membership.
Membership is as follows:
John Corrigan
Brian Murphy
Ann Fitzgerald (F)
Anthony Jones
Peter McManamon
Gerry Murphy
Petrina Smyth (F)
Robert Watt
NAMA
The Board currently has 8 board members one of which is a woman. This represents 87.5% per cent male membership and 12.5% per cent female membership of the Board.
Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
– Current gender breakdown – 80% male and 20% female.
Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal
- Current gender breakdown - 3 male members of the Board.
- This represents 60% per cent male membership of the Board.
- Currently 2 female members of the Board.
- This represents 40% per cent female membership of the Board.
The Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012 provides that the Minister for Finance shall, when appointing members to the Council, to the extent practicable, ensure an appropriate balanced between men and women in the membership of the Council (Schedule – paragraph 1(3)(a)). Under the Bill, the current members of the Council will become the first members of the statutory Council but with varying terms of office in order to set up a rotation of appointments. As and when new appointments are being made, the provision outlined above will apply.
343. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider introducing a non-complex system of a 5% income tax increase on those earning in excess of €125,000 in view of the fact that he has already ascertained in a reply to a parliamentary question that the projected figure of half a billion euro generated from this initiative would be equivalent to the revenue generated by a property tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39163/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe position is that the Government is committed to introducing a property tax under the Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, as the Deputy is aware, the Programme for Government states that as part of the Government’s fiscal strategy we will maintain the current rates of income tax together with bands and credits.
344. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Finance the number of residential units that have been made available by the National Asset Management Agency for lease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39167/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am advised by NAMA that it does not own or manage the properties securing its loans. Its best estimate is that, of the residential units which are under the control of its debtors and receivers, some 9,200 units are currently rented and about 4,000 are vacant. I am advised that a substantial number of these vacant units are close to being made habitable and will shortly be available for sale or rent, depending on the detail of the asset disposal and asset management plans which have been agreed with individual debtors and receivers. NAMA has made available a list of 3,200 residential properties to the Department of the Environment and the Housing Agency which are available to be selected by them for leasing in the future.
345. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance if he will review the decision to refuse a primary medical certificate in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39183/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe initial application for a Primary Medical Certificate under the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994, is made to the Senior Medical Officer of the relevant local Health Service Executive administrative area. If the Primary Medical Certificate is refused, the person may appeal the refusal to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, National Rehabilitation Hospital, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. I understand the named person has appealed the decision of the Senior Medical Officer not to grant a Primary Medical Certificate and a date has been set for this appeal hearing. I would point out that the Medical Board of Appeal is independent in the exercise of its functions.
346. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the current value of shares held by the State in Irish banks; and when negotiations will begin in Europe on Irish banking debt. [39235/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra347. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if this State will be setting a minimum value for which it is willing to sell Irish bank shares to the ESM, and if such a policy is to be pursued. [39236/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra348. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if a study has been undertaken to ascertain the long term economic value of current shares held by the State in Irish banks. [39237/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 346 to 348, inclusive, together.
On the 19th July 2012 the NPRF published their annual report. This contained a valuation of the NPRF’s ordinary and preference shareholdings in Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank at 31st December 2011. As at the 31st December the NPRF valuation of its investments in Irish banks stood at €8 billion. Its investments in AIB at this date were valued at €6.1bn comprising preference shares of €2.2bn and ordinary shares of €3.9bn. Its investments in Bank of Ireland were valued at €1.9bn consisting of preference shares of €1.5bn and ordinary shares valued at €0.4bn. In addition, the State holds direct equity investments in IBRC and ptsb (now separated from Irish Life). The State also invested €3bn in contingent capital instruments across the banks which are scheduled to be repaid to the State in 2016.
Given that the State may enter discussions in relation to these investments, it would be inappropriate for me at this point to provide further details in relation to any valuation assessment of those instruments. I would acknowledge though, that since the end of last year, banking shares have rallied strongly across Europe and the share price of Bank of Ireland has benefited from this positive sentiment rising by c18%.
The very welcome Euro Area summit statement of 29th June represents a major shift in European policy in terms of breaking the vicious circle between the banks and the sovereign. More recently with the announcement of single EU banking supervision mechanism on the 12th September, the European Commission President has outlined his vision for the banking sector, in which the ECB would be given supervisory powers over all banks in the union which is an important step in relation to the ESM and its potential to recapitalise banks. As you aware, the Irish Government has been working extremely hard to secure a deal on the Irish bank debt and further detailed work will be stepped up to ensure that the positive moves in Europe are harnessed to maximise the benefit to the Irish taxpayer. This will be one of the Government’s key priorities between now and the end of the year.
349. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance if esoteric assets were considered as an alternative to the recently launched National Treasury Management Agency bonds; if they were not considered, if they will be in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39264/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am advised by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) that in general, and in line with other sovereign issuers, the NTMA aims to issue debt instruments which are liquid, transparent and can be readily priced and understood. These key features assist in attracting a wider pool of investors which is beneficial both in terms of volume and price. Debt instruments based on esoteric assets are illiquid and difficult to price or value and may lead to significantly higher costs of borrowing. The NTMA is open to developing new and innovative forms of debt investment, as evidenced by the recent issue of Amortising Bonds in response to demand from a particular cohort of investors, namely pension funds and annuity providers. However the agency is conscious that any non-standard bond issuance must be considered with the broader investor base in mind and must not deviate or be perceived to deviate from well-established principles and investor expectations.
351. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Finance the number of State bodies that have been set up since 9 March 2011; the rationale behind these decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39997/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested by the Deputy is as follows.
New Economy and Recovery Authority (NewERA) was established within the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). It has not yet been set up as a statuary body.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was established on a non-statutory basis on 7 July 2011 as part of a wider agenda of reform of Ireland’s budgetary architecture. The establishment of the Council was also required under the EU/IMF Programme and it is one of the commitments in the Programme for Government. The Council will be put on a statutory basis later this year when the Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012, which provides for the implementation of the Fiscal Stability Treaty in domestic legislation, is passed by the Oireachtas and enacted.
352. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a list of the payments made by the State to private land owners in 2010 and 2011 to acquire land for use in the public capital programme. [40010/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has asked me to respond to the above question in respect of my Department. No such payments have been made by my Department or by the Offices and Agencies under the remit of my Department during 2010 or 2011. I also note that payments made as part of the normal commercial business of the banks under State ownership do not constitute State payments to private land owners.
