Results 581-600 of 881 for speaker:Peter Power

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: We must allow the banks to access capital on the capital markets. When they have access to capital——

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: ——on the capital markets, they should lend it out. That is where guidelines become applicable.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: I said I would speak briefly on this point.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: Deputy Rabbitte made the point that——

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: The last contribution took 30 minutes and I am entitled to three minutes.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: We are grouping these amendments by the agreement of the House. Deputy Rabbitte made the important point——

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: I am just addressing a simple and straightforward issue raised by Deputy Rabbitte. He made the point that the guidelines should be mandatory and that instead of using the term "may", we should use "shall". If we were to accept the amendment by Deputy Rabbitte and if we were to accept the amendment by Deputy O'Donnell, it would be mandatory on the Minister to make guidelines on the limited...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: No, because the proposed amendment is from this House. It will go to the Seanad but does not need to return to this House.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: I thank Deputy O'Donnell and Fine Gael. This is an important amendment and it adds to the section. On the general point on whether the President will sign the legislation in advance of seeking EU approval they are separate matters entirely. Once the legislation is passed in this House and in the Seanad later this afternoon, it will go to the President. The matter of EU approval does not...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: ——and the agreement of European Union. That means we can get this up and running quickly. We have had long discussions on guidelines and whether they should be mandatory or optional and whether the Minister "may" or "shall" introduce them. We could have all the guidelines in the world directing the banks to do all types of wonderful things but if the banks do not have the capital on...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: ——they will not be able to lend. We have had more than 100 hours of debate but it comes down to one very simple thing.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: That is how we relieve the banks of their distressed assets and make the Irish banking system function again. The reason it became dysfunctional is a separate matter to be debated in another way in another forum. The question which this legislation puts before the House is how to relieve the banks of their distressed assets and how we put a structure in place which allows the banks to...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: We are returning the Bill with one amendment to it and that is the amendment which Deputy O'Donnell just proposed.

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (17 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: In 2008, Ireland spent €920 million on Official Development Assistance (ODA). This represented approximately 0.59 % of our Gross National Product (GNP). For 2009 the total budget for ODA is expected to reach €696 million. Based on current projections this will represent at least 0.48% of GNP. This means that Ireland will remain one of the most generous donors in the world on a per capita...

Overseas Development Aid. (18 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: As Deputy Higgins will be aware, last year Ireland spent €920 million on official development assistance, ODA. This represented approximately 0.59% of our gross national product and placed Ireland as one of the most generous donor countries in the world on a per capita basis. In 2009, the Government was faced with the regrettable, but unavoidable, decision to reduce its allocation to ODA....

Overseas Development Aid. (18 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: I assure the Deputy that my aim, and that of the Minister, is to protect the aid budget and aid programme to the maximum possible extent in the context of the budgetary process that is under way. I simply cannot give another response to the Deputy, other than to say that we remain committed to reaching 0.7% of GNP on ODA levels. The sum of 0.7% of an economy that is faltering and...

Overseas Development Aid. (18 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: The fact that Anglo-Irish Bank is being brought into this debate at this stage disappoints me.

Overseas Development Aid. (18 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: Deputy Higgins introduced it. It disappoints me because if we do not have a thriving banking system we will not have an economy.

Overseas Development Aid. (18 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: We cannot divorce a robust economy from an aid programme. One cannot have one without the other. We cannot have an aid programme without a sustainable economy.

Overseas Development Aid. (18 Nov 2009)

Peter Power: The Deputy said we can have both, but I am suggesting that we cannot.