Results 8,921-8,940 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Earlier, he outlined his plans in respect of AIB. Effectively, that institution will have become almost a nationalised entity by the time the process the Minister described concludes. Then there is Irish Nationwide, a tiny building society which has placed taxpayers - those who elect us to the Dáil - on the hook for over €5 billion. Can Members believe that? Anglo Irish Bank and Irish...

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: What has he promised Commissioner Rehn? That is the one item that was missing from the Minister's contribution. The Minister made a statement earlier this morning and, true to form, the courtesy of a briefing in respect of this was not extended to Opposition Members. In governance terms, that was another bad misstep. In the statement to which I refer, the Minister said: "It is important...

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Perhaps it is "barristerial". The Minister certainly made a very barristerial statement. Many barristers are world-class bluffers and spoofers. A barrister will often give one an opinion which states that black is white provided one is prepared to pay for it.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Would it be possible for us to be shown the colour of the Minister's money and be given sight of the apparent advice from the Attorney General to the effect that, in the case of failed banking institutions, it is not possible to negotiate with bondholders? I strongly suggest that the Minister reconsider the phraseology he used earlier.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: The Minister has clarified the position. Who ruled out negotiation? The Minister gave the House a long, barrister-style lecture to the effect that negotiation was not possible.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: The clouds lift.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Now we are getting closer to the kernel of the matter. So it is not quite the position that the legal fatwa to which "Brian the Barrister" referred earlier actually prevents us from engaging in negotiation.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Unless the Deputy is a senior barrister, he should keep out of this.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: We are trying to encourage "Brian the Barrister" to provide some insights into his legal mind. Barristers can tell one anything; that is what they are paid to do. They are paid to argue.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Fixing the banks is not about using clever, barrister-style arguments-----

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: -----it involves financial engineering and doing the serious and hard work necessary to provide us with a banking system that will operate properly and provide credit. Unfortunately, that is not what the Government has provided during the past three years. I argued with the Taoiseach when he was Minister for Finance about contracts for difference. I told him it would turn the Irish Stock...

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: As a senior barrister, the Minister has suggested there is a serious legal view that a debt deal with the bondholders is impossible. He mentioned European Union and other rules, and he mentioned legislation.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Can he cough up the details?

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Can the Minister give us the detail and tell us about his legal opinion? Can he write it down? Can he offer us a meeting with those who gave the legal opinion? Otherwise we are entitled to think this is barristers in Parliament chancing their arms.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: In that case the Minister should publish it. The Attorney General is highly respected and his advice should be published. We will get our barristers to review it. Barristers are not the monopoly of the Fianna Fáil Party.

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Are we simply to have a four-year plan that is all about more pain for ordinary people? If the four-year plan is all about deflation we will have more people unemployed, more people leaving the country and more people whose mortgages are distressed. In today's announcement of the €50 billion, there is not a word about ordinary people in their 30s and 40s who bought at the height of the...

Announcement by Minister for Finance on Banking of 30 September 2010: Statements (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: ----- that reasonably effectively sold bonds successfully for Ireland. The Minister compromised the NTMA by placing NAMA in it. Even at this point the Minister could reverse that decision before Ireland reopens the auctions to the bond markets. Why was NAMA not put into, for example, the Central Bank? The Minister decided to put it into the NTMA so that the principal people in the NTMA...

Fiscal Policy (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: Question 2: To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the most recent Quarterly National Accounts indicated a contraction of 1.2% in GDP in the three months to June 2010 and a further contraction in GNP of 0.3%; his views on the most recent economic indicators; if his further attention has been drawn to the fact that the most recent Exchequer returns...

Fiscal Policy (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: I thank the Minister for his reply. At the time of the 2010 budget last December, the Minister famously said that the economy had turned a corner. However, the reality is that the domestic economy remains in recession having contracted for nine straight quarters. Does the Minister agree with Professor John McHale, professor of economics, National University of Ireland, Galway, that the...

Fiscal Policy (30 Sep 2010)

Joan Burton: We need a few harps to make music.