Results 7,481-7,500 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (22 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Yes, because of time I'll just move on, Mr. O'Flynn. Mr. O'Flynn, you said the developer is not to blame for the crash. Most people and many witnesses certainly to this inquiry would say that in many ways, developers and bankers were Siamese twins responsible for blowing up the bubble to excessive lending, speculation and so on that caused the crash?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (22 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Okay. Mr. O'Flynn, you asked a question in the course of answering ... or, here, tonight, and you posed, "How can we build houses that people can afford?" You're aware that a High Court judge, Kenny, had a report in '73-'74 ... that the price of building land should be controlled so that speculation was ruled out. And if you combine that with building homes at cost prices, people can...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (22 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: It was never implemented.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (22 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Just, lastly-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (22 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Lastly, Mr. O'Flynn, because my time is up, we see now venture funds - what are called in some media circles "vulture capitalists" - buying up large tranches of apartments and homes here and becoming extensive landlords, making ... make people who exist in those developments feel very insecure, very uncomfortable. What kind of a legacy is that for developers and banks to leave to ordinary people?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Mr. Kenny, when you were leader of a major Opposition party from 2002-07, were you able to meet with staff or officials from the Central Bank or the Financial Regulator?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: There was no meetings - structured or informal?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Okay. Based on your experience of that time and looking into the future, should there be a structured possibility for parties in opposition to meet with the Central Bank and the regulator in relation to financial issues of the day?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Thank you. Mr. Kenny, the Fianna Fáil Party has been heavily criticised for hosting an annual fundraising initiative in a marquee in ... during Galway Race week, and it was said that many developers, including some of the biggest debtors in NAMA, were said to be there making contributions. Now, on 6 February 2011, Michael O'Farrell, correspondent with the Irish Mail on Sunday, under a...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: How do you explain this interaction then and what's the difference between the Galway tent, which you often criticised, and these golf classics?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: But what was the difference at the time, Mr. Kenny, between you receiving donations, substantial enough for golf classics, from property developers or construction interests as the Fianna Fáil Party?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Yes. Mr. Kenny, in the last few days when representatives of the Fianna Fáil former Government and, indeed, developers were questioned, they answered, if I may say so in more or less the same terms that you did now. What was the difference between your approach to accepting donations from developers and the former Fianna Fáil Government?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: The former leader of your party who is now Minister for Finance, in 2001 prohibited corporate donations voluntarily to Fine Gael. You reversed that when you became leader in 2002. Is that correct?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Last question for you, Mr. Bruton, if I may. Mr. Bruton, in a budget delivered by the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat Government in December 1997, the Government reduced capital gains tax from 40% to 20%. In the subsequent ten years, during the property bubble, massive profits were made by land speculators and developers. There was ... it was said at this tribunal when Mr. Derek...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Mr. Bruton, that election was still held in the ... at a time of property prices and land prices being massively higher. Did you think that it was correct that individuals who buy land, sit on it for a few years, then get planning permission - therefore, the benefit of that land has hugely increased - and they sell it on, that they should be rewarded by halving the capital gains tax as the...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Did you take any measures-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: Did you take any measures to distinguish what you call an entrepreneur, or a genuine entrepreneur creating wealth, from property speculatory ... speculators?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: What would ye have done in 2007, Minister?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: But just to clarify, Mr. Bruton, because we have ... my time is up and we have to have a break. In the 2007 manifesto, did you make any provision to distinguish between what you call genuine entrepreneurs creating wealth, etc., and people making massive speculative gains from land dealing?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)
Joe Higgins: But how?