Results 7,481-7,500 of 26,897 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Forestry Bill 2013: Report Stage (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We can discuss Gougane Barra a little more as we go through the Bill, particularly having regard to the issue of public consultation. This was not ancient woodland per sealthough it was an ancient woodland site. I have heard an argument from an international tree pathologist who has looked at the site and had been at it before the felling. She said there was no sign of this die-back at...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 17. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the criteria and guidelines for the tendering of contracts by public bodies; his views on whether they are sufficiently robust to ensure such contracts contribute to the imperative to create jobs and more generally contribute to the growth of the Irish economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29620/14]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If premiums were too low, for example.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is even more scary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: My questions follow those points directly. Some 75,000 policyholders have been shafted. Many of them are small and medium enterprises and many are individuals. Somebody has failed to see this coming. If this discussion is to mean anything, we need to learn lessons. It strikes me that the dogs on the street could have worked out that there was something wrong with a company if it was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have to interrupt Mr. Sheridan on that. I heard the phrase "properly run" and must challenge it. The point of regulators is precisely to deal with people who do not do business properly. To throw it back and say some firms do not behave as they should is not acceptable. Sure, if they all behaved as they should, there would be no need for regulation. The reason the Central Bank is there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Surely, Mr. Sheridan cannot be serious when he says that companies should just behave better. Surely, we must have a more stringent regime of regulation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If this committee is going to come out with useful recommendations, I put it to Mr. Sheridan that a simple thing we could learn where companies are doing there business here while being licensed elsewhere is to look at them straight away. Is that not an obvious conclusion to draw? We should go straight in and start looking at those companies and ring the alarm bells with the regulatory...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sure there are lots of legitimate people out there, but I cannot think of a reasonable explanation for a company selling insurance exclusively into Ireland, having its base of operations and employees here, and presenting itself as Irish all the while being licensed somewhere else. If there are other firms like that, should we not be looking at them straight away to ensure we are not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will pair with the Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Following on from Deputy Doherty's question, the Irish Brokers' Association said that the same treatment should have been applied to the customers and policy holders of Setanta that was applied to Quinn Insurance, but that was not the case, and that in the case of Quinn Insurance, policy holders got a clear commitment that there would be no loss. What is stopping us from doing that? Is it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is there a divergence of treatment in terms of Quinn Insurance and Setanta customers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I understand. First, that divergent treatment is completely unfair from the point of view of the policy holders. It would probably be the case that if we had the responsibility for trying to sort things out and keep things going, or selling off the policies to somebody else who would maintain them so there were no losses to premium holders, there would probably be far greater motivation to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: May I add to what the Chairman has said? That is one element of the question, but there is also the issue of the odd location where the business seeks the licence. Is that an issue? There are a great many firms that do no insurance business in Ireland but are licensed in Ireland. There are firms that do all their business here but are licensed in places such as Malta. There must be some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is what I mean. I am using the term "regulation" in the most general sense, of ensuring that companies are doing business properly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let me use an example of the problems that the Central Bank might face. If a company does all its business in Malta, but the Central Bank in Ireland is the body that licenses it and is responsible for its prudential regulation, is it not harder to the Central Bank to keep an eye on it if it is doing all its business in Malta? Similarly it had to be quite difficult for Maltese authorities to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I suggest that we need to red flag the issue of companies that are doing all their business in one place but for some inexplicable reason are seeking the licence to conduct their business elsewhere. This needs to be red flagged immediately and the existence of this phenomenon needs to be examined. I have a final question. Given the inconvenience and the losses that are being suffered by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let us say that they are in breach, that there is insufficient provisioning, that they were doing what the Quinn Group was doing, using moneys that should have been for the provision against claims for other things. If they are guilty of these kinds of practices, what are the sanctions? Would they be allowed to do business here or anywhere in Europe again?

Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is a slight change in the order. We will have Deputies Mick Wallace, me, Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly and Shane Ross.

Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Will we have seven and a half minutes each?