Results 13,541-13,560 of 35,829 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Tá fáilte romhaibh. I congratulate the Governor, Professor Lane, on his new appointment and wish him all the best.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It was an uncontested position. Many of us would like to contest those types of elections but it probably speaks volumes about how Professor Lane is regarded by his peers. I congratulate him and wish him all the best. Regarding the Central Bank's code of practice on the sale of mortgages, is it still in effect?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, the voluntary code.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine. I wanted to know because I have a follow on question. To remind ourselves, the first line of that code reads "A loan secured by [a] mortgage [on] residential property may not be transferred without the written consent of the borrower". To my knowledge, the Central Bank has never asked the banks to apply the code. I have taken that voluntary code, which no bank has ever...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Ms Rowland outlined the origins but the code still exists. I assume the Central Bank of Ireland does not just introduce a code and then leave it for 30 years. Numerous Deputies, including the current Minister for Finance, myself and many members of the committee have raised questions about the code in the past. We know how parliamentary questions work: they go to the Minister, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: The Central Bank is consulted on them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I have the comments Professor Lane made in this morning's newspapers. I was not surprised by them, although I was disappointed with the view expressed. We have discussed it previously and we will discuss it again next week when the Bill goes through pre-legislative scrutiny. There is a bit of a trend here on the part of the Central Bank of Ireland, the European Central Bank and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is fair. I do not dispute that one bit. We are on the same page on that point. Professor Lane and I know, however, that certain vulture funds do not offer the types of arrangements that others do. From the perspective of "Mary" or "John" sitting out there, the idea that the banks and vulture funds are regulated the same does not make a blind bit of difference if they are not able to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Professor Lane is talking about the CCMA. The CCMA does not require any-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: -----bank or vulture fund to offer any type of solution.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It is just procedural stuff. While there is no evidence of the vulture funds breaching the CCMA, the reality is that they take a very intolerant approach to a certain number of customers. If one speaks to debt advocates, they will make this point very clear. If we want to focus on the CCMA, my view is that it is a red herring when we are dealing with this issue. That is because the CCMA...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine. I have read Professor Lane's report. One of the key findings is that it is very early to reach a conclusion in respect of the funds. Only a small amount had been transferred when the Central Bank carried out its review. We are now seeing that a huge amount has been transferred or is in the course of being transferred. We also know the CCMA set a timeframe. When we look at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that. AIB has presented the sale as commercial property and it is has made a virtue of the fact it does not sell private homes to vulture funds. Thousands of letters will be going in the post in the next two to three weeks, as up to 7,000 or 8,000 people will receive letters to tell them loans are being transferred to Cerberus, which is a vulture fund. In the middle of that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Is the bank aware of whether the sale of these loans, secured on the homes in which families live, are examples where the borrower is meeting the terms of their arrangements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: With respect to Brexit, Deputy McGrath referenced the ESRI report earlier indicating that with a disorderly Brexit, over a period of nearly a decade there would be a nearly 5% reduction in output. That is shocking everybody because it is making more real the possibility of that outcome. The Central Bank of Ireland's assessment is much more stark. It is that it would not take ten years to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: While I understand certain investigations are ongoing, I have been a strong advocate for individual accountability. With Professor Lane exiting his position in the next few weeks, is there anything the committee or the Oireachtas should do to ensure, if there was to be another scandal like the tracker mortgage or banking crash, individuals would be held to account in a clearer way and beyond...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: We have been waiting a long time for actions to follow from the Central Bank's recommendations. Is it a year and a half or nearly two years since the LRC submission?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It speaks volumes about what is being prioritised. The Central Bank liaises with the Minister about regulatory or legal changes which are needed. It would also be appropriate to inform the committee if the Central Bank believes there are areas which need strengthening. On the topic of Brexit, Senator O'Donnell asked about the sanctioning of Barclays Bank and the Bank of America, which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: How many significant firms are looking for new authorisations from the Central Bank?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Mar 2019)

Pearse Doherty: They were authorised, yes.