Results 18,681-18,700 of 35,924 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: For how long will-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: No, that is okay. The other point I want to make is in regard to the Commission's report. I wrote to Mr. Coffey about this and I am still waiting for a response. I wrote to him earlier this month seeking some clarification on this. We had an engagement with the Department on this issue but the Commission in its report stated: "Overall, the Council is of the opinion that further measure...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I know the fiscal council was very vocal about that. What I am trying to get from Mr. Coffey is where does the fiscal council come down in regard to the stand-off between the Commission and the Department because there is a stand-off now.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The fiscal council has sympathy for the Department of Finance.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Okay, on the basis that it should not apply the rules retrospectively or go with the medium-term objective, and even if expenditure benchmark is breached significantly, which would have required an adjustment in 2017, the only time it can make that analysis is in 2018 by which time it would have reached its MTO, on which side would the fiscal council come down, that the Commission is wrong or...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I agree with Mr. Tutty 100% and I agree with the Department on this one. The principle should apply. Rules were rules at the time and one cannot start changing the rules afterwards with the serious consequences that would have. There is a reference in the fiscal council's report to the Brexit fallout and a stability programme update, which is based on a hard Brexit. I hate the terms...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: That is the point I want to deal with. Mr. Coffey said that the expected impact of a hard Brexit may have been underestimated by the COSMO-simulations which inform the Department's views on the medium-term impact on the Irish economy. These were the simulations that considered higher debt, more unemployment or less employment, whatever way we want to view it, and less growth. If it was...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: What is the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council analysis of the underestimation? I know the council does not have figures and cannot put the numbers on it, as the Department has done. Does the council believe that the underestimation could be significant given the three areas Mr. Casey has spoken to us about?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: What engagement, if any, has the council had with the Department and the ESRI? Whatever about the assessment in the past, we need to get this right. Obviously, future policy will be dependent on trying to get an understanding. There will be some clarity at some stage on the outcome and whether we are looking at World Trade Organization tariffs and so on. We need to have the model right...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The council is lobbying for it or arguing for it. Is that correct?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: Discussion (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: My last question relates to the concentration of corporation tax receipts. Mr. Coffey can wear his other hat for this answer. We are all familiar with some of the statistics. We know about the 37%. We have been comforted in recent years in the sense that every time we ask a parliamentary question, the concentration levels are coming down. It used to be 40% and now it is 37% for the top...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I thank Ms Goggin for her presentation and I appreciate that she, as chairperson of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, has come before the committee today. Will Ms Goggin inform the committee of the consumer protection her organisation provides to clients of banks or clients who purchase financial products?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that. The reason I asked that question is that there is a bit of grey area in that the role, the responsibilities are basically passed on to the Central Bank of Ireland, which carries out those functions and has a statutory function to carry out those functions. In my view, the Central Bank of Ireland does not have the resources to carry out those functions and has done a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate those last comments because that is the problem here; the ombudsman's office, which will be merged, has its own role in dealing with complaints and in mediating complaints. Protection, however, is in making sure that people have not been stung in the first place. It is about trying to protect individuals. I believe there is nothing to prohibit the organisation that has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, but Ms Goggin speaks about the third cohort of people who cannot get access to the market and she has commended the Central Bank on the prudential rules of the loan-to-income and the loan-to-value ratios. If those rules are commendable, is Ms Goggin suggesting that banks are still refusing to lend to people who are able to reach the two criteria, which is the core of how banks are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Does Ms Goggin have any idea of how prevalent that is?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I want to go back to the issue of whether there is a market failure. I am sure the representatives are familiar with the Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill in the context of a cap on interest rates. Under that proposed legislation, which is before this committee, the responsibility would be given to the Central Bank to determine if there was a market failure, and correct me if I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I have two final brief questions. Reference was made to the dysfunctional nature of and lack of competition in the market. One would imagine that if the banks are all offering the same products and if there is lack of competition, then there is an opening for a bank to come in and undercut them or make profits. However, that has obviously not happened and, as a result, the normal rules or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Governments own banks all over the world and the most prominent banks in some of the best countries in terms of competition, such as Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere, are government-owned. It is not a case of one size fits all regarding government-owned banks being bad and private sector banks being good. Indeed, the private sector made a fairly big mess in this country due to unbridled...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Irish Mortgage Market: Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (20 Jun 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We should remember that the bankers in AIB have a cap on their wages of €500,000, and as soon as AIB is privatised their wages can go up. There is an incentive for bankers to say that.