Results 25,381-25,400 of 36,066 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: 49. To ask the Minister for Finance when he will meet the main lenders; and if he will direct those in which he is the shareholder to reduce their standard variable rate interest rates and offer realistic solutions to families struggling with mortgage arrears that involve maintaining the family home. [17767/15]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Departmental Expenditure (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: 80. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount spent by his Department, since March 2011, on advertising its Action Plan for Jobs; and if he will provide, in tabular form, the detail of this expenditure, listing each place it was advertised and the cost. [17951/15]

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Go raibh maith agat. Tá fáilte roimh an tUasal Torpey agus Gallagher. Mr. Torpey, if I can ask you just in relation to Ulster Bank, UBIL, relied heavily on intergroup funding from RBS Group to fund the growth in its loan book. Did this ability to borrow from its parent company lead you to expand the loan book at a faster rate than you would have or could have if you had to rely...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Gallagher, I would like to refer to board minutes of 5 December 2007. The full minutes aren't available in hard copy version of the booklets of the core documents but they have been provided in electronic form. The electronic reference for the screen is UBI 00329-006. The final paragraph and I will quote it anyway on the page states: "The Board noted that the Group's percentage growth...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. Just the minutes again, I'm just going to ... the minutes reflect in 2007 that you wanted to be the number one bank in Ireland. Is that the case?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. So it wasn't just to be a third force. You wanted to be the biggest bank in Ireland, the number one.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. And how would Ulster Bank set out to be the No. 1 bank in Ireland? Was the ambition possible through residential mortgage business alone? And if not, where did you need to enter into?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: If I can ask you just relation to Mr. Daly from ... from NAMA, who presented evidence to the committee. He gave an assessment and I'll quote you from ... from his evidence. It said: ''Few, if any, financial institutions wanted to be left out of what was seen as a profitable business due to the larger lender margins and the relatively low operating costs''. He went on to say: "In the Irish...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Yes.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. How much did the ... how much was Ulster Bank bailed out by RBS?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: And in relation to the fact that your bank needed €15 billion of a bailout - and that's sterling - what responsibility do you see, both of you personally, in relation to causing your bank to require that amount of money to be bailed out or do you see yourself as having no responsibility in that regard?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Torpey?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Torpey, can you explain to the committee how a person ... like yourself who has accepted collective responsibility in relation to your bank required €15 billion ... or sterling, pounds, bailout, ends up in the NTMA, head of the banking unit in the NTMA and seconded to the Department of Finance managing the State's assets in our banks up until the end of 2012?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: That ... that's ... I think you have answered, that's fair enough. I'm not going to push you on the question. It's just if you wanted to give your opinion on it and I welcome that. Can I ask you, Mr. Torpey, with the benefit of hindsight in relation to 100% mortgages, were you aware criticism of the 100% mortgages when it was introduced by Ulster Bank at the time?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: And let's just look at what, forgetting about hindsight, let's look in at what happened in 2003. Were you aware that Michael Dowling, which was the president of the Independent Mortgage Advisers Federation, said, ''We were a little surprised that the product came on the market at a time when the Central Bank [had] been warning banks about the amount they are lending'', and there was others...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus cuirim fáilte roimh an triúr ag an coiste. Obviously, the big issue in many homes across the State is the fact that the State had to put in €64 billion of funds into the Irish banks and that doesn't .... obviously, there is other concerns in different jurisdictions in relation to Ulster Bank. And I would guess that the perception...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Can I ask you maybe a question, if house prices didn't fall and commercial property fell to the extent it did 67%, would the banks still have needed the amount of capital that the Irish state provided?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: And Mr. McArdle you mentioned that most of it in relation to the €64 billion that was injected, how much would you estimate was a result of commercial property losses?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Sorry, what's not a big portion of commercial property?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (7 May 2015)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Beggs, do you agree with the opinion of either ... the participants at either side of you that it was commercial property that broke the banks?