Results 2,461-2,480 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the professor.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor Hardiman. I am interested in her quote from Mary Halton's thesis regarding the conduct of non-executive directors in Canada, who held meetings without management being present "as the primary tool through which to test ideas and build support among colleagues. This arguably helped to avoid excessive deference on the part of non-executive directors and to strengthen...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: Unfortunately, we do not like whistleblowers. Is it not the case that there is evidence that the careers of whistleblowers are ruined by their actions? In many cases organisations never institute reforms, rather they just gang up on the contrarians involved.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: The deference we are discussing applies, particularly in this Parliament, to European matters. Professor Hardiman provided additional information to us on EMU and what it means. Did we understand what we were doing when we joined EMU? Were there contrarians who spoke up when Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom did not join? If so, did anyone think to follow their advice and reconsider...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: The new, ethical and open complex that the professor has described to us sounds most interesting. The "big four" accountancy firms dominate accounting at the banks. With regulatory capture, the way regulatory institutions are set up and even finding that one bank gave €41 million in loans to its own directors, how does one promote the much better system described by the professor?...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Chairman and welcome Professor Honohan.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: The Governor used, I thought interchangeably, the terms "allowed to fail" and "to nationalise". I thought they were completely different things. How did that happen on the night?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: The terms were used interchangeably. There are empty shops in every town in Ireland. They were allowed to fail. Why were the terms "allowed to fail" and "nationalise" used interchangeably in this particular example?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: Page 2 of the Governor's letter for today's meeting states: "In the actual case the Government had no information at hand indicating that any of the banks were about to experience losses far in excess of their capital reserves." Mr. Carswell who was with us yesterday states in his book that the chairman of AIB said on the night that Anglo and Irish Nationwide Building Society should be taken...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: If an eminent banker was telling them that he thought the two banks were broken beyond repair, was that not information people there on 29 September 2008 had in their possession? They could have rejected it.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: In his report Professor Honohan refers to one of the bodies concerned and the fact that it had a track record, dating back to 2000, of unsatisfactory correspondence and so on between it and the regulator. When he says there was nothing else that could have been done on the night, it was the job of the people at the meeting to watch the situation evolve, over eight years in one of the cases...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank Dr. Elaine Byrne for her presentation. On page 238 of the book she quotes Eurobarometer research that the level of trust in government in Ireland fell from 46% to 10% between June 2008 and June 2009. Is that connected with the work of this committee? Was it a critical factor? It is certainly contemporaneous with one of the events at which we are looking.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: In the aftermath of what happened on 29 September 2008, however, there was a massive decline in the level of trust from 46% the previous June to 10% the following June.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: What is the number now? Has it been updated?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: When Dr. Byrne was replying to my colleague, Senator Michael D'Arcy, about her interview with Mr. Declan Costello, on page 86 of the book, she found that he had proposed measures in 1974 which were strikingly similar to the post-1995 Irish corruption legislation. For the benefit of the committee and people watching, what were these measures?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: On page 7 of Dr. Byrne's presentation today, she refers to the payments for whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 2010 in the US. Is it up and running? How does it work?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: Dr. Byrne quotes in her book the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, when he was talking about the professions. This was a matter pertaining to the sugar company. The Minister said in the Dáil, "I know it is a widely held view among the professions in this country that dog does not eat dog. I believe, however, that the taxpayer who paid £1.1 million for this report was at least...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: Dr. Byrne cites on page 125 a senior civil servant congratulating a subordinate for confusing a Deputy who had asked a parliamentary question and was subsequently referenced in the tribunal. If the questions that were asked in the Dáil were answered in the way they are answered here, there would be no need for this inquiry. Does that indicate a culture of dishonesty in the permanent...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: When Dr. Byrne was replying to Senator D'Arcy, she referred to the tax breaks and a concern about those and the way the Finance Bill appeared each year. How would she recommend that we deal with tax breaks?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (12 Mar 2015)

Sean Barrett: Would those Canadian parliamentarians have an estimate of the purported costs and benefits? That is one of our problems. We do not know what the cost of a tax break might turn out to be.