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

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, no, but that ... that was ... but the essential-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----but the essential point, Mr. Noonan, was these big bondholders had put in their money, they were unguaranteed, it was a speculative punt by them, and in the world financial market capitalism, if you win, you win, but if you lose, you're supposed to take your losses. So you-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----you were going to impose that principle, and Mr. Trichet told you that that would be considered a default which would have, you suggest correctly, devastating consequences, and that he related in this context the financial services industry, which I know how your Government and the previous Government put so much store on the importance of these institutions-----

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

Joe Higgins: Yes.

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, but to threaten ... to ... how can you use any word except "threaten" economically-----

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

Joe Higgins: No, I understand that-----

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, I understand that. I'm concluding. I understand the word wasn't used, but the word "bombs" was used-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----which does imply a threat, I would suggest.

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

Joe Higgins: Yes.

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, so that ... even more sinister, because you can take whatever you like out of it, I would suggest. But I know the word "threat" wasn't used, Mr. Noonan, but, you know, words have meanings and meanings have ... conjure up a reality that can follow those words.

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

Joe Higgins: I'll have to leave the last word with you for the moment, Minister.

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

Joe Higgins: Mr. Noonan, two questions on different subjects. The Fine Gael manifesto - it's in your evidence book - says in 2011: "[It would] ensure that rogue bankers are pursued for their crimes and that the full rigours of the law will apply to them, and the courts [would] have the powers necessary to impose appropriate fines and jail sentences". Could you please comment on why no legislation has...

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

Joe Higgins: Second question, Mr. Noonan, is on 1 December 2010, in the Dáil speaking on the troika programme you said: There is such a thing as moral hazard. It starts with the individual management and board of directors and then it goes to the institutions. It is a principle of moral hazard in the context of liberal capitalism that if one behaves recklessly, one gets punished. One gets...

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

Joe Higgins: But is it academic if-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----if the EU institutions forbid it and then you go along with that, is it not academic?

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

Joe Higgins: Thank you, Minister.

Sittings and Business of Dáil: Motion (22 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: I move amendment No. 1:That the debate continue into tomorrow; and that the time be extended by at least another three hours, and preferably more than that. I am opposing the proposal because three hours is pathetically inadequate to deal with the range of substantial issues and to call the Government to account on some of the most serious issues that ever have faced Irish society. In terms...

Sittings and Business of Dáil: Motion (22 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Members of the Technical Group are seriously disadvantaged, but other Members of the Dáil in general are also disadvantaged. All Members of the Dáil, Government and Opposition, should have the opportunity, four and a half years into the Government's term, to give their verdict, on reflection, in relation to the critical issues facing us. Therefore, I propose that the debate...

Sittings and Business of Dáil: Motion (22 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Its senior leaders actually think that they are socialists-----

Sittings and Business of Dáil: Motion (22 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: -----while implementing the most savage austerity in the history of this State for the past four years. I will tell you, Bertie Ahern's conversion to socialism had far more credibility than the recent claim made by Deputy Quinn.