Results 6,041-6,060 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Leaders' Questions (17 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Deputy Ruth Coppinger is being interrupted by Deputy John Lyons.

Leaders' Questions (17 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: This is ridiculous. The previous contributions should have been timed.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland Issues (17 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: 7. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on discussions with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom regarding Northern Ireland. [43820/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland Issues (17 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: 8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on discussions with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and other political leaders in Northern Ireland. [43821/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland Issues (17 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Is it not the truth, when one strips away the make-up applied by the parties, the Irish Government and the British Government, that the so-called Stormont House agreement is a savage austerity attack on the public sector in Northern Ireland, a state which traditionally suffered from high unemployment and low wages? Is it not also the truth that the Taoiseach went to Belfast and supported...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: On page 4 of Mr. Buti's introduction he refers to an EU Commission policy framework from the pre-crisis period, which is sometimes referred to as the great moderation paradigm. For somebody in the 1960s it would sound like something from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. In any case, Mr. Buti says there are two aspects to it - low and steady inflation, and prudent and sustainable fiscal...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: That is fine. As early as 2006, Professor Kelly referenced housing property bubbles in Finland in the 1970s and in the Netherlands in the 1980s which crashed and caused havoc within those economies, including a banking crisis in Finland. He further referenced studies in a few dozen OECD countries of housing bubbles which had a similar effect over the previous 20 years. How could the EU...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: I understand. At the same time, however, the credit extended by Irish banks was going through the roof and was being financed by massive loans from European banks. A witness from the United States, Professor Black, said that when banks are growing by approximately 20% year-on-year, all kinds of red lights should start flashing that the loans are not sustainable. How could the EU Commission...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: I accept that it did not have the tools. However, how could it not have the knowledge and recognition that this was a disaster in the making, given all the resources it has and the lessons of history?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Unfortunately, we are caught for time. Mr. Buti said it was considered that the Irish housing market was a healthy market. However, in a briefing document from our researchers we read that in a number of years during the housing boom the increase in the value of the average home was larger than the amount of money a worker on the average industrial wage would take home over the full year. ...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Some observers say that the role of the IMF changed significantly from initially encouraging co-operation economically between states and short-term loans for trade to conditionality attached to loans during the debt crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s in what was called the Third World. Does Dr. Donovan agree with that?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Why did the structurally-adjusted programmes become so controversial in the 1980s and early 1990s?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Obviously, I cannot debate the issue with Dr. Donovan but given the horrific poverty and breakdown in Africa, some people would not agree with his assessment. Joseph Stiglitz, a world famous economist and recipient of the Nobel prize in economic sciences, said the following in his book Globalization and Its Discontents:The IMF is not particularly interested in hearing the thoughts of its...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Are they the countries that have headquartered the major financial institutions in the financial markets? They had most to lose or gain in the structurally adjusted programme situation.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Global Exchange, which describes itself as an international human rights organisation dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice, observed in relation to the IMF's dealings with countries that have debt issues that the IMF ensures that poor countries made debt payments "by requiring countries to cut spending on education and health; eliminate basic food and...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Does Dr. Donovan agree or disagree with the following observation, that the IMF routinely pushes countries to deregulate financial systems and that the removal of regulations that might limit speculation has greatly increased capital investment in developing country financial markets?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Professor Black, in his testimony here, evidenced the policy of the United States in the 1990s when the Administration, he says, pushed quite extensive liberalisation in the financial area. However, Dr. Donovan, on page 2 of his opening statement, said:As an overall comment, I think it is widely accepted that the IMF's surveillance process failed in Ireland.  Although, as discussed...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Following on from the bubble and the inevitable crash, Global Exchange, which I mentioned earlier, alleges, first, that in regard to the IMF approach to the peso crisis in Mexico in the mid-1990s, and to the Asian countries, "...the IMF required governments to assume the bad debts of private banks, thus making the public pay the costs and draining yet more resources away from social...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Earlier, Dr. Donovan stated, "In addition, IMF staff had consistently urged from the beginning of the decade the introduction of a property tax and a reduction in mortgage interest relief to help counter a strong pro-house ownership bias." Why is the IMF opposed to ordinary Irish people owning their homes as opposed to spending their lives at the mercy of landlords? Dr. Donovan also stated,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Joe Higgins: Why did the organisations in question not say anything about the people who are the victims of what happened?