Results 2,381-2,400 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

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

Sean Barrett: You say the IMF had no inkling of the indecisiveness and lack of firm engagement underlining the detailed interaction between the Financial Regulator and key financial institutions, problems that you and Professor Honohan discovered only later. Would it have been better if we had had a separate Financial Regulator? The IMF would then have been able to say "We met an institution that was not...

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

Sean Barrett: Ireland and Canada, when they were sitting together at the IMF, obviously never discussed banking, because Canada did not have a banking crisis. Did we learn anything from sitting with the Canadians at the IMF?

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

Sean Barrett: Finally, I ask Dr. Donovan whether he sees a parallel between two instances. He said that dialogue between the IMF and the Irish authorities did not take place in 2008, and there seemed to be a similar breakdown in communication, according to the Honohan report, when the Central Bank disappeared from the picture in early September and did not really come back in until the letter from the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, on establishing the Low Pay Commission and for nominating Dr. Donal De Buitléir as the chairman. The commission's economists are Ms Mary Mosse from Waterford Institute of Technology and Professor Donal O'Neill from Maynooth University. We have a problem with low pay and increasing inequality. The Minister of State has chosen...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What one gets is a PR-driven takeover whereby we, representing 25.1% of the shareholders, are not even given a prospectus as to why we should agree with this. We should not consent to any done deals being promoted in the media. The situation is getting more serious by the day and it is time that we had a full debate in this House. There is a motion tabled that I believe should be taken.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I note that there are 200 amendments today, of which 134 are proposed by the Minister, so the thinking is obviously evolving. The submissions made to the Minister by the Employment Law Association of Ireland and Senator Craughwell, who is a trade union leader, might merit consideration at the next stage. The Minister's thinking is obviously evolving as he listens to the debates and...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I echo the praise for the Acting Leader for his organisation of the meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Association, BIPA. Praise for him was echoing around the halls because the guests he brought into the country enjoyed the occasion very much. One whom I met, who is strongly of the Unionist persuasion, told me not to let British Airways take over Aer Lingus because when it took...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Professor Connor stated that we need a modern and practical legal pathway for quick and effective bank resolutions. What would he include in such a pathway?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The value of the protection that parliaments give to banks was estimated at approximately €300 billion per year in the United States. That would be equivalent to €5 billion here. Should we move towards a system whereby the banks pay us for the insurance of bailing them out?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Did any bank managers go to Professor Connor to advise him their banks were about to go down the tube because of what was happening?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Should the auditors have seen this happening? They were in the banks auditing the accounts.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Professor Connor's estimate is that the banks were worth minus €51 billion before we put €64 billion into them. Have other people made similar estimates? His is the first I have heard.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The Keynesian stimulus that Professor Connor mentioned in his opening remarks would have required the Irish Government to have run a massive fiscal surplus, which is probably impossible to imagine even now. A huge capital inflow requires the Government to counteract the stimulus by running a surplus.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Commercial property emerged as a major destabilising sector for all of this capital inflow. We now have rules for residential mortgages. What kind of rules should operate for commercial property given its explosive contribution to instability?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Regarding the Watergate moment, are the tapes of the capital market desk distinct from the Anglo Irish Bank tapes? How many bankers are recorded on those tapes admitting they were insolvent? How long did it take place before the embellishment document that Professor Connor described?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Esmond Birnie wrote very strongly against entry into the euro. In the Northern Ireland Parliament, three of the five parties accepted the dangers of the euro. There were some in Irish economics and public life who acknowledged there were dangers in entering the euro without reading the small print.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor Walsh. When Professor Ed Kane was before the committee, he said in his presentation that regulatory officials and industry lobbyists resist transparent performance accounting. How does Professor Walsh respond to that?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What should be in a stress test?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The point is raised in Professor Walsh's evidence that even if auditors had been willing to be whistleblowers, the regulator was not listening so it would not make any difference if they had blown the whistle. What should be the relationship between the auditors and the regulator?