Results 3,401-3,420 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you. Can I bring it to your statement today and the bullet point 27, if I may please? "The Central Bank and the Financial Regulator’s office had significant resources in dealing with the supervision and regulation of the lending institutions." We had evidence that I think there was only 35 people in charge of prudential regulation and one person was covering both the Bank of...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you. On your bullet point 25, it says: "...there is no evidence that the Financial Regulator did not have adequate powers to deal with the emerging situation...". We did have evidence, I think it's in Honohan, that it took eight years of correspondence with what he calls Bank A, I think, which was pretty unsatisfactory to read in retrospect.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: And going on to 29 of your bullet points: "The Department of Finance did not see its role as second guessing the work and assessment of the Cental Bank and the Financial Regulator's office...". Was that not their job? You know, rather than take everything on trust, see what's going on here?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: But somebody to point out to you, "Minister, credit's going up at 25% a year. We're now linked with Germany, where it's going up at 4% a year; this could end in tears." I mean, somebody from the Department of Finance surely-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Your allied point on page ... at point 68, the failure to adapt to membership of the euro, what should we have done in those years?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Could the Central Bank have helped in relation to the foreign flows of money that came in-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you, Chairman.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Oh final ... oh sorry, yes. I'm on shorter rations of time, sorry. Could the Central Bank have assisted in that regard? Could they have controlled the asset price inflation caused by these flows when we did join the euro?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you very much. Thank you, Chairman.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you very much, Chairman, and thanks, Mr. Cowen. You mention in your bullet point 104 on your presentation, "I was not aware of contrarian views within the Department of Finance which differed in substance from the Department's overall assessment." Were the contrarians kept away from you as Minister?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Yes.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Yes.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Yes, but I know that is your view. I'm just wondering about the corporate view, because we have had evidence that the ESRI, a man called Nervous Nelly by John FitzGerald, used to ring up if he didn't like what was in the reviews. We saw huge chunks of an OECD report being cut out, including the word "boom", which you have actually in your presentation. It's one of your bullet points,...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: You mentioned in that section 85, where you've a long description of what went wrong, I mean, which I find very comprehensive, but one of them is, "[There were] stunning failures of corporate governance ... in [the financial] institutions." Were there proposals in your time for directors' codes of compliance and codes of corporate governance? Because there's some evidence...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Continuing on, on that list, if I may, you mentioned the auditors as well as the regulators and Government all share part of the responsibility. How did auditors miss so much that was going on in Irish banking?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: In the banks themselves, watching them as a public representative over the years, and, you know, seeing how they were very important figures in rural towns in Ireland, to ... and notoriously conservative and solvent through famines, and wars, and then recessions, how do they ... what happened within banks, do you think, that they were at your door on 29 September 2008 looking for vast amounts...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Should we have more scientifically examined the soft landing hypothesis, given that we relied on it so much?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you, Chairman. Were you surprised when the Wright report found such a low level of qualifications in economics at master's and PhD level in Dublin compared to Ottawa?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Thank you, Mr. Cowen.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (2 Jul 2015)
Sean Barrett: Is that Johnny Logan's?