Results 7,061-7,080 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: While I understand Senator Kelly's point, these regulations must be laid before the Houses for approval in the first instance, so they are approved by the Houses. That is the key point set out in the legislation. The Senator seeks to amend this provision to provide some kind of power for the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service. However the requirement of the...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: These ones are. The Senator is anticipating the next section.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: No, I am satisfied that I have sufficient power.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Nothing prevents the annual report being examined by the Committee of Public Accounts or the Committee on Finance and the Public Service. Nothing, subject to Oireachtas Commission approval, stops those committees from obtaining expert advice or an outside assessment of the report submitted to the Houses. All that can happen. One does not need an Act of the Oireachtas to say it can happen.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I do not understand this concept of an expert oversight board because I thought my expert oversight board was Dáil Éireann.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Oireachtas has the capacity to do that.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: This is the amendment that seeks to provide in section 6, without prejudice to section 6(1), that the obligations of a credit institution in receipt of financial support shall include an obligation to take all measures——

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: My apologies, Senator Kelly, I have mistaken the numbers in my brief. The section includes: "Financial support may be provided under this section in a form and manner determined by the Minister and on such commercial or other terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit." Of course the expression "or other" must be included because the Minister needs power in respect of prudent lending...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I have examined the amendment and the issue raised is an important one. We need our community to have access to the credit and do not want people to resort to services provided by those who require high interest. Section 6(5) provides for the preparation of a scheme relating to these issues, the terms and conditions relating to the granting of a guarantee. The Minister has a wide...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The purpose of this amendment is to substitute a positive resolution process in respect of the scheme for financial support to guarantee credit institutions. This amendment, signalled in the Dáil earlier this evening, reflects the importance of ensuring that both Houses of the Oireachtas have an opportunity to consider and endorse the scheme dealing with key requirements for financial...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The House can accept or reject it, as is the normal arrangement.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: This is an interesting proposal and was tabled in the Dáil. The State intends to draw up the scheme, have it approved by each House of the Oireachtas and then conclude individual arrangements with each financial institution. The terms of the arrangements will be confidential because they are commercial documents. The guarantee referred to in the Senators' amendment is an entirely different...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Senators are so anxious to discuss these doomsday scenarios that I decided to bring them nearer to them.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I did say in the other House and I will confirm it in this House that it would be the policy of the Government to follow that course in the event of a doomsday scenario. That is what one would do, obviously, because the State would want total effective control. One of the points made about moral hazard is that those who take risk in the bank should suffer in the event of failure. Of...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The taxpayer would have to be safeguarded in that situation.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The provision in the Bill which precludes the operation of the Competition Authority only relates to circumstances where there is an instability in the financial system. In all other circumstances, competition rules apply to mergers, acquisitions and businesses. It would not be normal practice in a purely commercial understanding between a bank and the State that the State would impose an...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Liquidity in terms of a bank is acquired through the taking of deposits or the obtaining of interest bonds, interest bearing loans or loans from other banks or the interbank market. We have to inject confidence into that market. That is one of the main purposes of this legislation where Ireland is concerned. On the liability side of the balance one also has subordinated debt but that is...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: This proposal is worthy of examination but if one looks at its two core ideas, there are better ways to implement it than by this legislative format. The risk assessment committee is an important issue. However, the Financial Regulator already has powers to attend meetings of such committees, to open the latch at a bank and look at risk practices. We need a more frequent exercise of that...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: This is the last amendment to be tabled by the Opposition and I have one further amendment to go. In the amendment under discussion Members seek to impose a monthly reporting obligation. I am always accountable to Dáil Éireann. We are dealing with institutions which have shares quoted in the marketplace and which are subject to huge degrees of public scrutiny. Admittedly, two of them...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 Oct 2008)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: This is a technical amendment required to ensure the non-registration of charges only applies to charges with secure liabilities arising under section 6. In other words, all other charges created by credit institutions will be treated in the normal way.