Results 6,861-6,880 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: And what would've been the main subject of the meetings?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: In relation to ... I mean, the talk of the day up to 2007 was really the property bubble. The massive increase in lending and the price of a home for an ordinary person that was just going crazy by any standards. Was ... did that feature prominently in your meetings and discussions?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Was there general agreement among the economists in your section that this was an extremely dangerous development?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: And, can you just clarify then, what's ... what reporting ... the most senior person in the Central Bank was the Governor, then you had the deputy governor. Can you just take me down a little bit from there and put yourself then, in the position of reportage?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: As far as you were concerned?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: So, for example, in order to get ... in order to get, say, a serious issue onto the board of the bank, who did you have to convince?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: And were you on a equal status with those people?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Were you on the seventh floor as-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Does that mean that you had regular, almost daily, weekly certainly, access to the Governor, the deputy governor and those-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: And these really serious issues that you say you had with the price of property, and the scale of lending, did you discuss that regularly with the Governor then?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: But sorry, Mr. O'Connell, there's a difference if you ... if I may say so, between mentioning something and having a really serious discussion.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay, yes-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes. Mr. O'Connell, we've had evidence here in relation to house prices, which, by any standards, we can say were horrific. But you had the same access to the chief executive officer of IFSRA as you had to the Governor, in the sense that he was on the seventh floor as well, or the chairperson, I'm sure, of the board came in.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: I mean, these issues were so serious in your view, did you really ... did you ever consider asking those people for a special meeting to sit down and to say "Look, this is going beyond the beyonds." If you were stopped, as you said, formally from getting something onto the board but the danger was so acute, and the price of a home for an ordinary person was obviously going off the radar, did...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes, but it was urgent that something should be done, wasn't it?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: The papers and all the rest of it ... you said there was a realisation but no action was taken. Wasn't that ... was that really the fall down?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: So, is it the case, Mr. O'Connell, that you were informally talking about these things but, in retrospect, could it be said ... or ... that you should really have taken much stronger action to bring home to people what was necessary?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: I understand you to say this, but I'll ask you the question: do you ... do you believe that the board was conflicted, or members of the board were conflicted, because of political and property allegiances, etc.?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Jun 2015)

Joe Higgins: But you said it in your opening statement.