Results 2,581-2,600 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome our visitors from Cork and London, respectively. To deal with Cork first, the word "not" really jumped out of Mr. Owens's statement that "the proposed works will not reduce the risk of flooding sufficiently to allow [the insurance companies] provide flood cover". I had been thinking of the no claims bonuses and so on, but they cannot even get cover. Why is it that we spend...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Many previous road projects have been the subject of cost benefit analysis. I have never heard anybody dispute the major benefits of that analyses in terms of time savings or accident reductions. Why are the benefits of this project not accepted?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Perhaps Mr. Owens would elaborate on the 2014 flooding event in Cork.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Was that a normal event in terms of flooding in Cork?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Have the administrative problems of 2009 been addressed? To the outsider it appeared communications between the ESB, Cork Corporation and Cork County Council were a shambles.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Travelling by train one can see the flood plains around the Mahon area and between Cork city and Cobh. Why are there flood plains and land not subject to flooding within a few miles of each other? Is there something wrong in terms of management of particular areas?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: There were particular complaints about the flooding in Blackpool, which it has been stated arose because of a blockage of a stream. I presume that was the result of human error and was not a problem that could have been remedied by the OPW.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Was the cost-benefit analysis of the project published and furnished to Mr. Owens's members?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: The two papers Dr. Surminski sent us contain very important information. Page 15 of the 2014 paper states there is no formal requirement for insurance providers to share flood risk information with their customers or the government. This is something a committee such as this would be quite taken aback to read.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: The papers will be most useful when we come to assess this and I thank Dr. Surminski for them. Property protection measures are dealt with on page 16, which states there are no formal mechanisms to advise policyholders about the options under standard operating procedures. Senator Hayden spoke about the amazing record the insurance industry in Ireland has of going broke repeatedly and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: It is micromanaged but it comes up through the basement in Mr. Owens's premises. Dr. Surminski's paper deals with granting improved terms or reduced premiums to those who take risk reduction measures or benefit from defence structures. These are considered to be the most obvious form of financial incentives that insurance can create and is the main reason risk-based pricing is widely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank Dr. Surminski. It would be useful if she could send those papers to the Governor of the Central Bank because we are trying to come to terms with the regulation of all financial institutions in Ireland, as she knows. What she has to say would be of great interest to him. I commend her on the work she has done and thank her for her presentation today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Insurance Cover: Discussion (15 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Chairman.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: I express my sympathies to the Buckley family from Mourneabbey in County Cork at this very stressful time and endorse the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade's expression of thanks to the Glasgow police force for their assistance in this regard. I thank Senator Leyden for his remarks about the bus situation. I think the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport will be here later on...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2014: Second Stage (16 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: As always, I welcome the Minister when he comes to the House for transport debates. I support the Bill he has put before us this afternoon to place responsibility for both rail and road infrastructure under the one body. Transport Infrastructure Ireland brings together the engineering expertise and, one hopes, the economics expertise of the bodies being merged. The two bodies compete for...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome reports today that the Minister, Deputy White, is to propose at Cabinet tomorrow that the broadcasting charge should not proceed. That charge was to replace the television licence by extending it to people who did not have a television. It seemed to me to be a strange part of public finances. We asked the then Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, in the debate on it at the time if the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: North-South Interconnector: EirGrid (21 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome our visitors. What percentage of the electricity price is represented by transmission costs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: North-South Interconnector: EirGrid (21 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: By how much does that figure go up the longer the transmission lines are?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: North-South Interconnector: EirGrid (21 Apr 2015)

Sean Barrett: If we were to double transmission line length, would the figure of 3% or 4% double or stay the same?