Results 7,261-7,280 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: -----Bank of Ireland, and Mr. Gleeson said that it was mainly to discuss, to quote, the request of the Government "was to discuss ... dramatically deteriorating international situation, the apparently dire straits in which Anglo found itself and the possible repercussions of Anglo's imminent collapse". Was the meeting called as a result of the ... of the bankers, specifically to meet them?...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: And then, Mr. Cowen, finally, because of time, Mr. Cardiff, in evidence, did say that you surprised him quite early on, I'll just quote that: I had expected of course that we would discuss guarantees for banks among the options for consideration ... – indeed, by then I thought that some guarantees were inevitable. But the Taoiseach raised the issue of a broad pre-emptive guarantee...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes. But, Mr. Cowen, with respect, you had ... you-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Just, can I just give the figure? The figure that Merrill Lynch had given the Government was that INBS had €11.7 billion out in loans, that it faced a write-down of anything between 30% and 60% which would be between €3.6 billion and €7 billion, and Goldman Sachs said that it had regulatory capital of €1.8 billion. It was clearly insolvent on the night of the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes, thanks. Mr. Cowen, when the national recovery plan was drawn up in early November 2010 by your Government, was that drawn up and tailored to the expectations of a troika bailout?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Well, the terms of it, Mr. Cowen, is what I mean. There was ... there is a famous or ... well, a famous Trichet letter of 19 November, but there is an earlier letter from Trichet to Brian Lenihan on 15 October and it's in your core booklet, page ... Vol. 5, page 31-32. But the last paragraph on page 32 is to quote Mr. Trichet, "As I told you, a key element of the monitoring by the Governing...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes. But this ... well, the structural programme, it doesn't say, but what is being demanded essentially is the type of austerity that you implemented. So, were you ... did you draw up that programme in the expectation that you would be reliant on the troika and, therefore, that you would go along with what they were demanding?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: And then, Mr. Cowen, the letter of 19 November from Mr. Trichet to Mr. Lenihan, were you quickly made aware of this letter?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Did you see it in any way as an economically threatening letter from the ECB?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Cowen, Mr. Trichet was demanding that you essentially bail out the banks but funding taxpayers' money in. And in ... then, in the second last paragraph, "I'm sure ... you are aware that a swift response is needed before markets open next week". Did you see that as him trying to blackmail the Irish Government to panic ... into a decision? And did you consider threatening the ECB back,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: And, Mr. Cowen, in 2008, around the time of the guarantee and after, when, you know, big depositors and bondholders can essentially threaten banks by shifting large amounts of money ... two weeks ago the Financial Timesreported that the current Minister for Finance, Mr. Noonan, and German Finance Minister Schäuble argued for capital controls in Greece to stop major funds leaving Greek...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Capital controls rather than the route you took?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: And, Mr. Cowen, when ... essentially, what many people would regard as a horrific programme of austerity was to be imposed on the Irish people to bail out the banks, did you ever consider a referendum of the Irish people on that bailout programme? And, in retrospect, how do you justify putting a burden of €64 billion on the ordinary people for debts of banks and bondholders that they...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: The point is there was lobbying going on by property interests in 2008, in towards the end of 2008 in response to the crisis that was going on and in preparation for budget 2009. The Irish Times, on 9 October 2008, refers to Derek Quinlan of Quinlan Private lobbying the two Brians, meaning Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan, in relation to necessary - as he put it - action for the construction...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Not a meeting necessarily, but in any way.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (8 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay, thank you.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (9 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Quinlan. Mr. Quinlan, the banking inquiry is for the purpose of, and I quote from the terms of reference, "to inquire into the reasons Ireland experienced a systemic banking crisis, including the political, economic, social, cultural, financial and behavioural factors and policies which impacted on or contributed to the crisis". Now, in your opening...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (9 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: So just to clarify, are you putting all this then on the macro-financial situation internationally and-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (9 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: But we ... we'll explore some of those and related issues. Could I just bring up the graph from your introductory written statement ... from page 3, which will come up on the screen there, Mr. Quinlan. "Assets by Type - Based on valuation", and this is from your 2006 business and transaction overview, Quinlan Private.