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<title>Peter Power - Recent appearances (From KildareStreet.com)</title>
<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/mp/?pid=234</link>
<description></description>
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<dc:creator>KildareStreet.com, mprss.php script</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2009-04-15T16:11:21+00:00</dc:date>

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<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g415.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g415.0</link>
	<description>I have not heard even one constructive suggestion.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="415.1">I have not heard even one constructive suggestion.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g413.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g413.0</link>
	<description>I have not heard a single concrete suggestion in ten minutes.  The Opposition claims to be constructive.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="413.1">I have not heard a single concrete suggestion in ten minutes.  The Opposition claims to be constructive.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g411.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g411.0</link>
	<description>Deputy Creighton still has not backed up her claims of incompetence in the public sector.  It is easy to make these bland statements, but she is not prepared to back it up.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="411.1">Deputy Creighton still has not backed up her claims of incompetence in the public sector.  It is easy to make these bland statements, but she is not prepared to back it up.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g409.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g409.0</link>
	<description>Can the Deputy back up her assertion?  She is not prepared to back it up.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="409.1">Can the Deputy back up her assertion?  She is not prepared to back it up.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g407.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g407.0</link>
	<description>Deputy Creighton has failed to back up her assertion.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="407.1">Deputy Creighton has failed to back up her assertion.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g403.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g403.0</link>
	<description>The Deputy made an allegation that the public service is incompetent.  I have asked her to give specifics.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="403.1">The Deputy made an allegation that the public service is incompetent.  I have asked her to give specifics.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g401.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g401.0</link>
	<description>Where, specifically?</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="401.1">Where, specifically?</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g399.0">
	<title>Pre-Budget Statements (Resumed) | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-03-25.395.0&amp;m=750#g399.0</link>
	<description>Whereabouts, exactly?</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="399.1">Whereabouts, exactly?</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-03-25T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.776.0&amp;m=750#g883.0">
	<title>Banking System: Motion | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.776.0&amp;m=750#g883.0</link>
	<description>I accept that, but there has been no suggestion of corporate wrongdoing in those banks and we must support them notwithstanding the mistakes they have made.  That is the Government&acirc;€™s position;...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="883.1">I accept that, but there has been no suggestion of corporate wrongdoing in those banks and we must support them notwithstanding the mistakes they have made.  That is the Governmentâ€™s position; it is a measured, timely, proportionate and decisive position and I commend the counter motion to the House.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T20:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.776.0&amp;m=750#g880.0">
	<title>Banking System: Motion | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.776.0&amp;m=750#g880.0</link>
	<description>No, it has been structured and considered.  We had to act quickly in one instance in September and have acted in a measured way since in terms of the recapitalisation of the banks.  Since we...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="880.1">No, it has been structured and considered.  We had to act quickly in one instance in September and have acted in a measured way since in terms of the recapitalisation of the banks.  Since we signalled recapitalisation as a policy, we could have gone for an immediate recapitalisation but instead we did a risk assessment of the loan books, which caused enormous controversy in Anglo Irish Bank, but we took a measured tone and recapitalised.  At the same time, we came to an informed decision of the appreciated risk in the banks and that is why the PricewaterhouseCoopers report was commissioned, giving rise to the controversy of the past few weeks.</p><p pid="880.2">In that controversy we should remember one thing.  Despite all of the difficulties of the two main banks and the bad decisions which their chief executives admit, there is no suggestion or allegation of wrongdoing against the two most important systemic financial institutions in the country.  We must recognise that.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T20:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.776.0&amp;m=750#g878.0">
	<title>Banking System: Motion | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.776.0&amp;m=750#g878.0</link>
	<description>I commend the Government&acirc;€™s amendment to the House. We in Ireland, like all countries in the developed world, are confronting the greatest financial economic crisis that the developed world has...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="878.2">I commend the Governmentâ€™s amendment to the House.</p><p pid="878.3">We in Ireland, like all countries in the developed world, are confronting the greatest financial economic crisis that the developed world has seen for well over 100 years.  Before we can solve the crisis, which is what this motion seeks to do, we must look at its essential characteristics.  What are they?  The defining characteristic of this financial crisis and recession as distinct from those that have gone before it is its unpredictability.  The nature of this crisis is changing all the time, almost on a weekly basis.  From the moment the American Government let Lehman Brothers go last year, it has been impossible to predict where the crisis is going.</p><p pid="878.4">The perceived wisdom 12 months ago was that a 4% capital base ratio for our banks was sufficient.  We now know that was incorrect, even though it was predictable at the time.  The ratio is now estimated to be 9% and we have recapitalised the banks to that extent.  What will it be in five monthsâ€™ or nine monthsâ€™ time?  No one can predict that.  Only in recent days President Obama signalled further massive underpinning of the American financial system, where this crisis began.  Accordingly, because the situation is so fluid and is changing daily, the reactions must be also on a daily basis.</p><p pid="878.5">There is one constant in all of this.  Since last September when the Government had to intervene, with the support of the proposers of this motion, Fine Gael, the decisions that have been made have been in the national interest.  Recent events have shown that the Government has not been influenced by golden circles or the malign forces that have been suggested within this very Chamber.  Suggestions to that effect were made not alone without evidence or foundation but with a complete reckless disregard to the financial status and reputation of the country and its ability to raise finance in the capital markets. That is why those who speak about the crisis must do so in a measured tone.  The Governmentâ€™s approach to this crisis has been measured and decisive at each and every unpredictable turn in events.  The approach has been structured.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T20:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g326.0">
	<title>Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g326.0</link>
	<description>It sounds as if the Deputy has some experience.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="326.1">It sounds as if the Deputy has some experience.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T12:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g320.0">
	<title>Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g320.0</link>
	<description>The Deputy made serious allegations.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="320.1">The Deputy made serious allegations.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T12:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g318.0">
	<title>Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g318.0</link>
	<description>The Deputy made serious allegations about people who are not in the House.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="318.1">The Deputy made serious allegations about people who are not in the House.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T12:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g314.0">
	<title>Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-25.309.0&amp;m=750#g314.0</link>
	<description>The Deputy is making serious allegations.</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="314.1">The Deputy is making serious allegations.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-25T12:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-24.243.0&amp;m=750#g261.0">
	<title>Leaders&acirc;€™ Questions | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-24.243.0&amp;m=750#g261.0</link>
	<description>Even the polls?</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="261.1">Even the polls?</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-24T15:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.510.0&amp;m=750#g516.3">
	<title>Overseas Development Aid. | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.510.0&amp;m=750#g516.3</link>
	<description>I cannot say at the moment.  We can take either of two approaches to this.  We can cut &acirc;‚&not;95 million pro rata across the whole budget, affecting spending streams such as the bilateral aid...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="516.2">I cannot say at the moment.  We can take either of two approaches to this.  We can cut â‚¬95 million <i>pro rata </i>across the whole budget, affecting spending streams such as the bilateral aid programme, multilateral involvement, NGOs, civil society, etc.  I am not disposed towards taking that type of blunt unsophisticated approach.  We now have the opportunity to look at all our funding streams through the prism of a new focus on hunger and in that respect I cannot accept what the Deputy says with regard to people dying as a result of this initiative. </p><p pid="516.3">We are refocusing and reprioritising  the overseas aid and development assistance to the poorest of the poor and those who are in real need.  That is why, unique among European countries, we have identified hunger as the key development issue, and that is where we are prioritising our resources.  People are not dying but we are relieving people out of endemic poverty and hunger.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-12T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.510.0&amp;m=750#g514.3">
	<title>Overseas Development Aid. | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.510.0&amp;m=750#g514.3</link>
	<description>The Deputy has mentioned corruption, which I must refute.  Our overseas development assistance budget is peer reviewed internationally by the OECD.  It is recognised as being of the highest...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="514.2">The Deputy has mentioned corruption, which I must refute.  Our overseas development assistance budget is peer reviewed internationally by the OECD.  It is recognised as being of the highest quality and one of the most effective in the world.  That characterisation of the budget is wrong.  I will not spend more time on that, but I accept that in very difficult economic times it is very understandable that the public will be looking at all budgets and asking questions.  That is why we need to maintain full public confidence in the programme. </p><p pid="514.3">I do not accept that ambiguity is setting in.  If anything, we are being more definite about our ambitions.  We want to achieve our ambitions, but we want to ensure that they are real, practical and realisable.  There is no point in having false ambitions based on a foundation of sand.  The ambitions must be clear, as the Taoiseach reiterated in September last year before the United Nations.  We must say with conviction that we have to provide our programme based upon the reality of strong economic growth.  If we continue to borrow, as we are doing, for development purposes, that is ultimately unsustainable and we preach sustainability in our aid programme throughout the world.  However, to borrow continuously and to repay borrowing for development purposes is an unsustainable position.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-12T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.510.0&amp;m=750#g512.7">
	<title>Overseas Development Aid. | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.510.0&amp;m=750#g512.7</link>
	<description>I have already set out, in my reply to the first question, the basis on which the Government acted last week in order to curb public expenditure.  The decision to reduce the budget provided for...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="512.2">I have already set out, in my reply to the first question, the basis on which the Government acted last week in order to curb public expenditure.  The decision to reduce the budget provided for overseas development assistance in 2009 was a difficult one, but it was necessary in the context of the extremely difficult economic situation the country now faces.  The Government is acting now with only one motive, to provide the conditions for renewed economic growth.  I have given a clear commitment that when economic circumstances permit, we will resume the expansion in our aid programme, which has been a significant feature of Government policy over the past decade. </p><p pid="512.3">It is important to recognise that, even with the reduction in our aid programme from the planned â‚¬891 million to â‚¬796 million, Ireland will again this year be the sixth most generous donor worldwide in <i>per capita</i> terms.  We have a very strong aid programme, recognised internationally for providing untied aid, with a clear focus on the poorest people in the least developed countries.  I assure the Deputy that we will maintain the standard of the programme and that we will continue to take a lead internationally on the most basic of issues facing the poorest people in the world, the global hunger crisis.  Irelandâ€™s partnership with the developing world is making a real difference to the lives of people in 90 countries, and it will continue to do so.</p><p pid="512.4">The Government remains firmly committed to achieving the target of spending 0.7% of GNP on ODA.  However, we have to face the reality that an exclusive focus on that target is not, in current circumstances, in the interests of our development partners, nor of the credibility of our aid programme.  Even if we were to increase the percentage of our GNP allocated to ODA, in the context of a seriously contracting economy, we would simply be offering a proportionately larger slice of a rapidly shrinking cake.</p><p pid="512.5">The priorities of the aid programme in 2009 will remain as set out in the Governmentâ€™s 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid. We have not yet taken final decisions on how the budget adjustment of â‚¬95 million will be implemented across the aid programme.  I do not underestimate the effect of such an adjustment.</p><p pid="512.6"><i>Additional information not given on the floor of the House.</i></p><p pid="512.7">I can assure the House that the action we take in the coming weeks will be based on a rigorous analysis of the whole aid programme in order to ensure its effectiveness and value for money. This analysis, and the subsequent decisions which we will have to take, will ensure that we maintain the central priority of Irelandâ€™s development programme, which is to contribute to the reduction of global poverty and hunger, with a particular focus on the poorest people in the least developed countries.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-12T16:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.469.0&amp;m=750#g475.2">
	<title>Overseas Development Aid. | D&amp;aacute;il debates</title>
	<link>http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2009-02-12.469.0&amp;m=750#g475.2</link>
	<description>We have not made final decisions on that.  Given the complexity of the programme, I intend to adopt a nuanced rather than a pro rata approach across the programme.  Certainly, the multilateral...</description>
	<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p pid="475.2">We have not made final decisions on that.  Given the complexity of the programme, I intend to adopt a nuanced rather than a <i>pro rata</i> approach across the programme.  Certainly, the multilateral agencies will be examined.  The increase in aid to multilateral agencies has been disproportionate compared with the other side of the programme.</p>]]></content:encoded>
	<dc:date>2009-02-12T15:00:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>


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