Results 6,221-6,240 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: The Minister has a nerve to come into this Chamber and to attempt to cost what he says are the purported proposals of the Labour Party when he has not provided us with costings in respect of his own proposals. On the proposals, I expected that the Minister would at the very least have come into this Chamber with a business plan. Any small or medium sized business person heading into a bank...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: Where is the business plan? Where are the projected cashflows of NAMA over its seven to ten year life span? A person wishing to purchase a house is required to bring to the bank manager details of his or her income and any other family income. The bank manager then works out what he or she may or may not be able to borrow. The Minister has come into this House and provided us with a...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: Will the Minister provide us with an analysis of the broad make-up of the 40% of loans which are good loans and the 60% of loans which are distress loans? Unless we get a consolidated list in regard to each broad group of loans and each developer we will not be able to evaluate the Minister's proposals. What the Minister is asking us to do is to trust Fianna Fáil. I do not trust Fianna...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: I admire the Minister's English. I note the word "developers" has disappeared from the lexicon and that the "developers" have become "borrowers", which brings to mind the Victorian child's book called The Borrowers.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: I am sure there will be people researching the borrowers to see what was said about them.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: Yes, they were all small. The Taoiseach stated that the purpose of today's exercise is to crystalise losses for the bankers and developers and also stated that this process is our equivalent of a stimulus package. Crystalising the losses for the bankers and borrowers - the developers - is one matter but where is the stimulus package? The Minister made references at the end of his speech...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: Judging by the small print, if I am reading the figures correctly, we may be back here again. The Minister has been careful not to provide us with too much of a breakdown. Will the Minister explain this in a manner which ordinary business people can understand? He stated that it is hoped we will obtain a 10% to 15% premium in terms of long term economic value. I received a letter the...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: The bank does not give the unfortunate person who lost his or her job a 10% or 15% premium for long term economic value. Perhaps the Minister will explain this to the people of Ireland, in particular ordinary couples who may have lost their homes because, like a developer, they did not manage their financial affairs too well. We all understand how a developer might have been too optimistic...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: The tables the Minister has laid out indicate that he is offering a premium by way of the long-term economic value of between 10% and 15%. We do not know the breakdown between the five institutions but that is how I have worked it out from what the Minister said in his speech and from the tables. Why do couples or businesses whose properties are being repossessed by the banks not receive a...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: Can the Minister tell us why the Bill contains no specific requirement to charge interest to borrowers and developers? There is a provision in various sections of the Bill for the possibility of charging interest, but our legal advisers, who have read the Bill carefully, have pointed out to us that there is no requirement to charge interest. That is not written into the Bill; there is a...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: The power and capacity to charge interest is included in the Bill but not the necessity to do so.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: I thank the Minister.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: In the figure of €77 billion referred to by the Minister, the rolled up interest amounts to €9 billion. Although the Minister has not clarified this, that rolled up interest is generally thought to have occurred in the last two or three years. If developers end up securing an interest holiday for some years under NAMA, that alone could be worth another substantial sum of several...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: We have had senior counsel advise us on what is in the Bill.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: One of the issues identified as entirely fanciful last week by Mr. Justice Clarke in his adjudication of the case put forward by the Zoe Group was that KMPG included provision for an interest holiday in its presentation. Where on God's earth did KMPG, a reputable firm of accountants, get this notion of a happy interest holiday or its equivalent for Mr. Liam Carroll? Did it pluck it out of...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: The toxic triangle of Fianna Fáil, bankers and developer-borrowers must be dealt with. I will send the relevant sections of the Bill to the Minister. I acknowledge that he wrote to me yesterday to indicate his intention to amend certain sections at the request of the Labour Party arising from legal advice we received on current crisis conditions. I will send him the further legal advice...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: When Mr. Bo Lundgren, whom the Government praised to the skies, visited Dublin some months ago he made three points. He suggested one should not pay more than market value, which means we should not pay a 10% or 15% long-term economic value premium. He then suggested that when a country finds itself in a grave position, as Sweden did at one time, the appropriate and best recourse was...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: The Minister called in a man who stated last year that he would die before he would accept State equity. Last night, we saw the same man smiling for the camera as he entered the Department of Finance.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: He looked like a happy camper. What does he know that we do not know? What we heard today was not fantastic news for the poor taxpayers and citizens who the Minister will ask to take cuts in services and wages and further tax increases in the next few weeks. Last night, I was reminded of a line from a song, "As he walked along the Bois de Boulogne with an independent air", except the...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (16 Sep 2009)

Joan Burton: It may not necessarily be the case but it is highly possible. Is it probable?