Results 2,921-2,940 of 4,168 for speaker:Susan O'Keeffe

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I ask for a clarification on an answer Professor Kane gave to the Chairman. Professor Kane said at the end of his remarks to the Chair that the ECB is overextending itself. That is quite a big sentence and I wondered what he means.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: In what way?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Is the professor suggesting there could in that circumstance be a run? I am not sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I have two questions anyway, unless someone else has more questions. Can members pair to get finished, unless they absolutely wish to go and vote?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: No, can the Deputy pair with Deputy Boyd Barrett?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I thank Mr. Gaynor. It is not easy to put together a volume of work and stick at it long enough to present a case. I applaud that. I share some of the views on the value of this petition, not least that it seems extraordinary that there is no statutory retirement age as part of the apparatus of the working environment. Employers use a one-year fixed contract to bridge the gap. Can Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Would those three colleagues have expected to, or signed a contract to the effect that they would, retire at 65? Is this now in addition to that contract, in which case it might be reasonable to have to-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Perhaps we should not make this personal about the Minister. In fairness, no Minister gets out of bed in the morning and says he or she is going to interfere with this or that. Mr. Gaynor has pointed out some of the problems. That is reasonable, and we ought to discuss those to see what we as a committee can clarify or pursue to effect change. Sometimes people put things in place and,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: There is no change of circumstance or conditions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: There should be nothing ad hocabout it.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I wish to express my condolences on the death of Mr. Watson. Over his many years of experience, Mr. Regling has obviously read many reports and he has probably written many reports also. How would Mr. Regling describe this one in terms of it being critical? Would he say it is fairly critical or very critical? How would he describe it himself as a report presented by him?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: How surprised was Mr. Regling that, as he describes it, he found Ireland was a country where it seemed no one was really in charge? That is quite a remarkable thing to say. How surprised was he?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I wish to dwell for a moment on some of the points Mr. Regling made in the report about what people knew, or did not know, about what was going on. He said that with hindsight we know more things and macro-financial prudence has changed. Mr. Regling states on page 35 of his report:... property exposure gave rise to a very risky concentration of risks within certain...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Were they ringing but no one was listening? Mr. Regling talks about the alarm bells in another part of the report. One can have alarm bells ringing all one likes but, as we know, we sometimes just switch them off. Were they ringing or not ringing?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Mr. Regling states on page 39, "it would seem quite surprising if there was no common wisdom to tap that would have pointed to the fact of high concentrations in commercial real estate lending". He seems to be suggesting that common wisdom, the knowledge people had, would have suggested there was a serious problem. I am not clear whether Mr. Regling said people ignored it or simply did not...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: On page 6, Mr. Regling states: "internal procedures were overridden, sometimes systematically." In other parts of the report, he talks about errors of judgment in bank management, major lapses in the documentation of loans, weak risk management, and the failure of corporate checks and balances. If something was systematic and internal procedures were overridden, that means people knew what...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: While the world might have had all sorts of contributing factors that changed our scenario, individuals took an opportunity, perhaps, to go too far, to burn, to enjoy and to override systematically. One can have any set of circumstances but it is what people do with those circumstances that counts. Is that not the case?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: The conclusion really being that there was no one in charge either. Mr. Regling says he spoke to the ECB. With his European experience, how much responsibility does he believe the European Central Bank has for what happened here? His conclusion may be true for other countries too but we are only interested in here.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Does it have a responsibility now as we try to sort ourselves out and as we try to look forward?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I thank Professor Lane. Given all the changes that occurred in the world, or global financial system, over the 1990s and into the 2000s, were bankers reckless, opportunistic or greedy, or was it just good business to take the chances that were taken?