Results 4,101-4,120 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (9 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Best or worst-case scenario.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Single Payment Scheme Eligibility (14 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: 415. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding changes to the single farm payment scheme which affect those farmers who had previously been denied a payment because the amount was less than €100, in line with the Scottish derogation; his plans to change this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29144/15]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Single Payment Scheme Eligibility (14 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: 416. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny will benefit from changes to the proposed changes to the single farm payment scheme under the Scottish derogation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29145/15]

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Thank you, Chairman. Good afternoon, Mr. Farrell. Firstly, I wonder if you could outline for the committee the nature or, I suppose, how you were appointed chief executive of the IBF in June 2004? What was the nature of the process that led to your recruitment for the role?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. And you made the initial ... or sorry, you were initially approached yourself prior to making an application?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. Can I ask you, and I'm aware that you may not wish to answer this, but the nature of the relationship between the IBF, which ... one of its functions, I suppose, is as a lobbying group for banking interests with Government, is part of the terms of reference of our inquiry. Are you prepared to divulge to the inquiry the remuneration package that you would have-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: That's okay. How many people would have been working in the IBF in 2004 versus 2013 when you left? Can you-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. You served as general secretary of Fianna Fáil from 1991 to 1997. Did you remain on as a member of the party up until the time that you left the banking federation?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. Would you have been personally close to many of the Ministers who would have served in government in the period, we'll say, after your having left employment with Fianna Fáil and having taken up, in January of 2004, work ... employment with the bankers' federation?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Can I ask would you have had reason to, you know, make contact with members of the Government in your function as chief executive of the bankers' federation, direct contact on banking matters in particular?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Yes. Would there have been ... how many times in your roughly ten years would you have dealt, specifically maybe with the Department of Finance, whether the Minister or the various Ministers, the various Secretaries General that would have been in the Department in that period?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: That's fair enough, I'm not questioning that. But would you have had much interaction, I suppose? The level of interaction?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Again, and this is my last question on this point and this area, as a former general secretary of Fianna Fáil and a former Senator, former Member of the Oireachtas, could you comment for the inquiry on the appropriateness of the relationship you and the banking federation had with Ministers for Finance and Government over your ten-year period, including, I suppose, a comparison as...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. I do want to change now, Mr. Farrell, and just refer to your opening statement. You described in it the period 2004 to 2008 as a period of rapid, but, as subsequently proved, unsustainable economic growth. To what extent do you now consider that the banking sector has borne any responsibility for the unsustainable element of economic growth in that particular period?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Would you like to outline it, briefly perhaps, in your-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Yes.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. In a draft memorandum to Government in October 2005, it stated: The Irish Bankers Federation approached the Department of Finance in April 2005 regarding changes to the Investment Intermediaries Act. ... They [being the IBF] have engaged McCann FitzGerald Solicitors to draft the legislation in conjunction with all of the major issuers of Covered Bonds in Ireland who have been closely...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: In your time, the first part of my question was ... I admit, in your answer, that you said that it would be unlikely that you drafted legislation. I'm only referring to the note, but-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Would it have been common practice, in your ten years, that such interaction would have happened between the IBF and the Department on particular items of legislation, that you would be preparing documents, whatever nature they were, whether they were drafted legislation or just highlighting areas that you think needed to be addressed-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (15 Jul 2015)

John Paul Phelan: Okay. I want to ask ... to turn now, maybe, to the area ... particularly the area surrounding the guarantee itself, and ask you if you had any interaction with the late Mr. Lenihan or Mr. Cowen between the end of 2007 and the introduction of the guarantee. We've had evidence from a number of witnesses at this stage that there was lobbying of various natures as to a political guarantee or,...