Results 8,061-8,080 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: I put it to Dr. Bacon that the task he was given was to evaluate the options for resolving property loan impairments and associated capital adequacy of Irish credit institutions. For a number of months, PwC was actually in the banks examining those very issues. PwC gave a report to the Minister for Finance on Friday, 20 February 2009, a month before Dr. Bacon's report. It comprised a...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Even though he was examining matters which were very much related?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Yes, but Dr. Bacon was making ultimate recommendations around the issue of capital adequacy and the impairment of loans. There was a lot of detail there in the system which, according to evidence, was not made available to him.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: That PwC report made the point that even under the adverse scenario, Anglo was projected to meet the minimum capital requirements at the end of September 2010. That conclusion was there a month before Dr. Bacon's report was completed.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: When Dr. Bacon was doing his work in 2009 did he ever envisage that €64 billion would ultimately have to be injected into the Irish banking system?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Did he not believe the problem was on that scale?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Beyond his reports which relate to 1998, 1999 and 2000 in terms of the property market, what in Dr. Bacon's view were the main drivers or ingredients of the rapid increases in residential property prices seen during 2004, 2005 and 2006?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Professor Ahearne is very welcome. I will start with the September 2005 study he did with his colleagues in the Federal Reserve. He looked at 44 episodes of house price booms and busts in 18 advanced countries since 1970. If he were to go back to update the study in light of what has happened in Ireland in recent years, where would Ireland stand or rank in the context of the countries he...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: From peak to trough?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: What other examples would be up there in the top three?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Just to take Professor Ahearne on to the link between the property price crash and the impact on the banking system, was that link fully understood in the years leading up to the crisis? Was it understood that the risks that were being built up through dramatic property price increases could potentially have a major impact on the banks and the banking system? Does he think that was...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: In the Irish context, in terms of the banking crisis that did develop, and looking at the exposures in commercial real estate and residential mortgage lending, if Professor Ahearne were to attach a weighting to both of those in terms of the underlying risks and losses in the banking system, which was more important and what kind of ratio would he attach?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: When Professor Ahearne was answering Deputy Murphy earlier about the meeting he had with the late Brian Lenihan in August 2008, he said that around that time there were rumours and anecdotes about Anglo Irish Bank. The term he used was "a complete basket case". Was that what he was picking up socially? When was he talking about exactly? Was it July to August 2008?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: What is Professor Ahearne's view, then, on the characterisation a month later, at the end of September 2008, of the problems within the banks and even in Anglo Irish Bank - we will explore that, obviously, in much more detail - that it was a liquidity issue and not a solvency issue at heart? Does Professor Ahearne think, given the loose talk that was going around at that time, that it was...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Finally, in Professor Ahearne's opening remarks he characterised quite starkly the change in the nature of mortgage lending in Ireland around 2006 and the data from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that one in three new home buyers in 2006 took out 100% mortgages. That rate had doubled from the year before. Two thirds of all new home mortgages taken out in...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (5 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: 72. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current status of plans for a central pensions register; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9829/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Vehicle Registration (5 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: 84. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will address the general issues raised in correspondence, in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 22, regarding the application of vehicle registration tax on a returning emigrant, who is planning to bring a vehicle home with them. [9802/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland Investigations (5 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: 87. To ask the Minister for Finance the current state of the Central Bank of Ireland investigation of issues relating to under-provisioning at a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9827/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (5 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: 88. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide, in tabular form, the sales of marked diesel on a county basis in each year from 2012 to 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9830/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pension Provisions (5 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: 89. To ask the Minister for Finance the total value of pension assets transferred abroad by trustees since 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9832/15]