Results 2,521-2,540 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: I thank Ms Kennedy, because we will be talking to some of those people.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: The sentence above that, if I may, states: "it is fair to say that the policy of The Irish Timeswas critical of both the establishment and operation of the Financial Regulator and IFSRA, believing that they were not independent of the Central Bank." That was quite a controversy when the McDowell report was opposed by the Department of Finance and the Central Bank itself. What were the...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Did Ms Kennedy follow that up afterwards? That is part of the narrative that we have to look at. This body was set up in somewhat controversial circumstances. Did The Irish Timesfollow how the story involved after 2003 until the night of the guarantee?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Ms Kennedy mentioned at the top of page 5 that she gave Simon Carswell the space to become "a full-time specialist in covering the banking crisis". What concerns did Simon Carswell express to Ms Kennedy to achieve that valued status subsequently? He was in here as a witness a few weeks ago, as she knows. What concerns was he bringing to her that she felt that step should be taken?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Did Mr. Carswell have intuition about two banks that we know subsequently went broke or did he feel that-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: -----the regulation of the sector was defective? He must have had some concerns if he was able to impress Ms Kennedy sufficiently to give him that status.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: The Irish Timesalso had a very important interview with Milton Friedman by Conor O'Clery, where a Nobel prize winner was extremely concerned about the design faults in the euro. Was that story followed up by the newspaper? It was certainly a scoop to get it at the time, but did it influence Ms Kennedy afterwards as this crisis developed?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Will Ms Kennedy tell us the background to the famous article by David McWilliams? Did she know it had been rejected by other publications?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: I am getting my gurus mixed up. It was definitely Morgan Kelly.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: In the final sentence of her opening statement, Ms Kennedy noted that journalists "were less well-placed than others to make an accurate assessment." That is a very pessimistic statement.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: I could probably maintain that I did. Is this an abdication by the Fourth Estate? That is what I am concerned about. The Irish Timeshas a track record, having got Milton Friedman and Morgan Kelly and it also got a strong line on the McDowell report.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Some of the evidence given yesterday and the previous day suggested that journalists are under too much pressure from public relations companies, they do not have time to do independent research and they tend to ask the incumbents about what is taking place in a sector rather than seeking out contrarian views. Was that the reason Ms Kennedy was feeling pessimistic? Would most journalists...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Are the living standards of journalists much lower now than they were ten or 15 years ago? In the Bowes pub kind of setting it was certainly the story that one building society in particular went out of its way to recruit journalists and give them mortgages. Would such privileged status for journalists have influenced coverage of the sector?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: One of the current correspondents of The Irish Times, Professor John FitzGerald, informed the inquiry that if he wrote a quarterly report on the economy which may have been somewhat pessimistic, someone who he referred to as a nervous Nelly in the Department of Finance would ring him up to complain. Did Ms Kennedy ever receive those kinds of telephone calls?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Was the property sector among the sectors that would make telephone calls to Ms Kennedy?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Ms Kennedy stated, "The same editorial standards applied in the property supplements as elsewhere in the newspaper." The whole tone of the property supplement is so saccharine and gushing that it must be different from the rest of the newspaper.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Was that in the main body of the paper?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you, Chairman. I welcome our visitors. There are some matters arising. I did not interpret Mr. Browne's evidence as hostile in any way. The matter of how I interpreted what he was saying yesterday only arose today. I will move on to other matters. Does the training of journalists equip them to deal with the kind of crisis that this inquiry is investigating? Reference was...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: The influence-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Mar 2015)
Sean Barrett: He just wanted his photograph in the newspaper. Was that it? I was saying that people watching here do not attempt to influence decision-makers in the sense that they would not contact a judge or a referee. However, Ms Kennedy gets contacts on a regular basis from Ministers or people in business attempting to influence the content of The Irish Times.