Results 2,001-2,020 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Discussion (16 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: That figure of 300 is relatively very small. Is that because this is the level of business the banks did, as a percentage, or is it that these banks were not as guilty and as involved with the scandal as the main banks seem to have been? Did these banks manage to not make the same mistakes as everybody else or was their volume of business much lower in the first place, which has resulted in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Discussion (16 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Minister. I have a final question on the new directors the Minister intends to appoint. These will be normal bank directors, presumably, and like other bank directors on the board, they will be there to represent the shareholders in line with normal corporate governance and to try to do their best for the bank and ultimately for the shareholder - in these cases we are a 71%...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Discussion (16 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: Does this suggest, in the context of AIB, that we would have an interest of around 71% of whatever the number of directors currently is? I accept there are executive and non-executive directors and other reasons people may be on boards, but will the number of directors on the boards be proportionate to our shareholding?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Discussion (16 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: Will the Minister clarify that these directors will be doing their best - as all directors are supposed to do - within the legislative process and within the law on behalf of the shareholders?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Discussion (16 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: Yes, but they will be doing what all directors do, as opposed to being separate. There is no public interest status this time around and they will be doing what directors are supposed to do; looking after the company, on behalf of the shareholders and within the law.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Discussion (16 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I wish everybody a happy new year. I hope everyone has a productive, healthy and happy year going forward. I also congratulate the Leader of the House on his recent marriage. I congratulate him and his new husband. I wish to refer to the proposed worldwide ban on the importation of plastics by China, which is an issue that is becoming more relevant by the day. China proposes to ban...

Seanad: Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: The time allocated to each Senator is not to exceed ten minutes, and time can be shared. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House and ask him to make his opening remarks.

Seanad: Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Minister of State. I remind Senators that they have ten minutes each and that time can be shared. There is no guillotine. Everybody can speak for ten minutes if they so choose. A number of Senators have indicated to me and I have written their names down. A number of people in the Chamber have not yet told me in what order they want to speak but I will take them. That...

Seanad: Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: As there is nobody here from the Independent group, the next speaker will be Senator Gavan, who has ten minutes.

Seanad: Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: The next speaker is Senator Gabrielle McFadden and she has ten minutes.

Seanad: Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: The next speak is Senator Lynn Ruane and she has ten minutes.

Seanad: Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (17 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: The Minister loves this House anyway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I welcome Professor Lane and his team. I take the point that the Chairman and Senator Paddy Burke have made. We have already commented that we only got a link to Professor Lane's opening statement at 8.43 a.m. so we did not have much time before the meeting to study it. However, we have certainly had time to do so since the meeting commenced. The tone of the statement is quite...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I welcome that Ms Rowland acknowledges it should never have happened and that the banks are at fault - we all know that - but the Central Bank is the regulator-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: -----and the watchdog or the bloodhound - whatever the word is. It is there to supervise and regulate. Just as internal auditors in banks should have been watching and people should have been fearful of the internal auditors and their external auditors, they should equally have been fearful - to a greater extent than they were, clearly - of the regulator. The witnesses represent the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: On the point that it will cost them €900 million, approximately €600 million of it is redress and compensation, and Professor Lane said the compensation is in or around 15%.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: Therefore, it is not costing them an awful lot. If a taxpayer does not pay the Revenue, typically interest and penalties are more than 100% of the amount the person was trying to not pay in the first place. The penalty here is approximately 15%, plus the staff costs. I accept there are staff costs, whatever they are, and we have acknowledged that some banks have hundreds of people involved...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: That is as a kind of disincentive to doing it in the first place. If the banks think the compensation to be paid will be 15%, why would they not take a chance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Central Bank of Ireland (18 Jan 2018)

Gerry Horkan: To develop that point, has the Central Bank got a breakdown of the range of compensation and redress payments by amount? Professor Lane spoke about people who might have been overcharged by €100. I tried to get it out of one of the banks if anyone was overcharged by more than €100,000 and they said not really. The following day at 8.30 a.m. I got a phone call completely out...