Results 841-860 of 1,249 for speaker:Ned O'Keeffe

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: Fine Gael supported that as well. The Deputy should not try to tell me that——

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: On globalisation, we lost——

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: We had cheap imports from the Pacific and south Atlantic regions, which competed successfully against Irish farmers. I have seen this. The same thing happened in my own locality, where we had a wonderful organisation called Dairygold. It used to turn over €1 billion per annum, killed 500,000 pigs and 100,000 cattle, as well as processing approximately 200 million gallons of milk into...

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: We did not.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I will revert to this issue shortly. The Deputy should keep quiet.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: The fine brands that were developed in that area, such as Galtee cheese, Mitchelstown bacon, Galtee bacon and Calvita cheese all are gone and are being sold off——

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: However, the Competition Authority objects to this. Moreover, 1,500 jobs were lost and I blame Enterprise Ireland for much of what happened as it went along with the flow because it constituted globalisation. I also am highly critical of Kerry Foods, which is a major importer and which does not kill a single animal in this country. It only is a secondary processor that imports, thereby...

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I am discussing the real economics of agriculture where the bread and butter of the industry——

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: That is only small bread. It only amounts to €4 million. The Deputy should not worry about it.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I make the point that I wish to see——

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: Members should consider what happened in Iceland.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I refer to Iceland.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: Iceland went down the road of——

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: Iceland neglected its fishing industry and went down the path of financial services. Where is it today? The same thing has happened. We neglected our agriculture in a manner that was promoted by everyone. I spoke at meetings throughout the country and was laughed out of school in many places at public meetings——-

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: ——because I was told that agriculture was yesterday's business. I raised this issue with Dan McLaughlin of Bank of Ireland. I had known, and can quote several paper cuttings from the past four or five years to this effect, where we were going in the world economy in respect of construction but no one took it seriously. That is the reason we have finished up on the rocks today. The...

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: They will not be embarrassing for me. I grew up in a house in which finance was discussed and this economy used to have high interest rates to discipline the economy. During the past ten or 12 years, although Japan has set both low and zero interest rates, it still has not emerged from its difficulties. The only way in which one can discipline an economy is to have higher levels of...

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I will answer the Deputy's question.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: No, I am not. I am in favour of the euro and I supported the Lisbon treaty openly. I wish to refer to that issue in this debate. I remind Deputy Stanton that when he attends meetings and invites me to support his party, as he did the other night, I also would welcome him to this side of the House to support Fianna Fáil in the good decisions we take. He would be more than welcome on this...

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I had a lost opportunity the other night because Deputy Stanton spoke after me but I would have welcomed him warmly on this side because our decisions are always much better than those of Fine Gael.

Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Ned O'Keeffe: I came into the House this evening to develop a point I made previously. I made a statement in the House in respect of the state of auditing. To back up my statement, I can cite two major companies, namely, Enron in America, which was a huge company, and Parmalat in Italy. They went to the wall during the good times but had they been properly audited in either country, they would not have...