Results 2,361-2,380 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: This is a major issue and producing no documents last week or today is not good enough. I assure the committee that there is a strong economic tradition against this kind of takeover and anti-competitive merger. There are articles on it in the Treaty of Rome and, as such, we have to hear the other side. I have heard a great deal of wishful thinking from the advocates of the takeover and it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: How are we supposed to interpret the assertion that Stobart Air is committed to a place when it is six weeks and one day since it withdrew from it? That does not add up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: On 28 November 2014 the Irish Independentstated that under Mr. Brogan's leadership, Stobart Air had also expanded its fleet, with Aer Lingus providing some of the financial backing for new aircraft purchases. Does that mean that Mr. Brogan cannot say anything different from what he has said today? Aer Lingus finances his fleet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Is the Irish Independentarticle wrong?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Aer Lingus provided some of the financial backing for Stobart Air's new aircraft purchases.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: There is a quote from the Scottish Government to the effect that there has been an historical imbalance in UK aviation policy that has held back Scottish airports and the development of direct international links. British Airways is the company that did this and Aer Lingus is inviting it in as its partner in Ireland. It is not that company's record in Scotland according to the Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: We would appreciate receiving the documents on which the case was made to convince their Lordships in the UK courts that they were being prevented from selling the slots in the context of optimising the route network and the case Mr. Walsh is making here. It seems they are two completely different cases. We will have to evaluate all aspects of this matter. The contradictions on the slots...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air (17 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: It is like the evidence at the banking inquiry which will be the next one. It seems to be short on verdicts, numbers, documents and so forth.

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I compliment Senators Power, van Turnhout and Healy Eames for all the work they put into this Bill. Like my learned colleague, Senator Norris, I have listened to the debate and we have learned a great deal. For that we are very much indebted to the Senators. I thank the Senators opposite, Senators Moloney, Conway and Brennan, for their generosity of spirit. Sometimes those on the...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: -----make derogatory remarks and so on, but the friendships in this House surpass all of that. They have been so kind and generous in terms of the spirit of this legislation they deserve special thanks from everybody on this side. I wish the Bill well and commend it to the Minister. It will make 50,000 or 60,000 people much happier, as we have heard. I compliment Dr. Fergus Ryan for the...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: We will support him because we are at one on that issue. This is a suitable way to remember the historic events we will commemorate next year in that we are removing stigma from children and promoting the rights of natural mothers and fathers. We do cherish all the children of the national equally and protect their civil rights. If we have had advice which was very hard to bear from...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Following on from Deputy Michael McGrath's question, Mr. Buti said the guarantee was too broad. What would he have taken out of the guarantee?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What would Mr. Buti take out?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: At the end of page 2 and page 3 of his presentation, for which I thank him, Mr. Buti said the Irish banking sector was severely oversized relative to the size of the local economy and the fiscal capacity of the Irish sovereign. By how much was it oversized and what is an optimum share of GDP to have in banking?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: On page 3 of his presentation, Mr. Buti said that many states were exclusively concerned with micro-prudential supervision and insufficient attention was paid to macro-prudential supervision. When every single bank goes broke the micro was not well carried out. On the macro side, did the Commission know that rules such as loan-to-value and loan-to-income disappeared during the period coming...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What was the procedure? Did Mr. Buti's people visit the Central Bank or take data from it, or visit banks, to discuss issues such as the emphasis on property and the emphasis on borrowing abroad? Were any of these issues ever discussed as part of the supervision?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: On page 8 of his presentation, Mr. Buti said the sudden drop in residential house prices undermined the viability of most Irish banks and exposed a striking lack of supervisory and regulatory rigour. That writing was on the wall long before that and it did not take the decline in house prices to know that what was going on was not sustainable.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Mr. Buti said he did not shy away from a critical view of Irish fiscal policy making. Did he shy away from a critical view of Irish monetary policy-making?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank Mr. Buti.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Dr. Donovan. Does he think the design faults in the euro played a part? Does he think we were aware of that role? How did a very conservative banking system give the IMF the biggest bust it ever had?