Results 13,761-13,780 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (16 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: The amounts spent by my Department on advertising and promotions from 2004 to date are set out in the table beneath. 2004€ 2005€ 2006€ 2007€ 2008€ 2009€ 31,071 12,988 377,045 277,365 65,525 10,329 Expenditure was incurred for a variety of purposes including advertisements in the national media in relation to: · commemorative events such as the National Day of Commemoration and...

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (16 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: There is no discernible cost to my Department's vote in administering the cycle to work scheme. The bicycles and equipment are paid for by way of salary sacrifice by those acquiring the bicycles. There are minor costs in processing forms and in carrying the up- front costs until such time as those are offset by the gradual deductions from salary. Neither of these is quantifiable. The only...

Written Answers — Ministerial Expenses: Ministerial Expenses (16 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: The amount claimed in expenses by each of the Taoisigh and the Ministers of State in my Department from 1997 to 2008, is detailed in the tables below: Taoiseach John Bruton (January 1997 to June 1997) Expenses claimed 1997 â'¬ 1,697.03 Minister of State Donal Carey (January 1997 to June 1997) Expenses claimed 1997 â'¬ 15,542.29 Minister of State Avril Doyle (January 1997 to June...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: Yesterday the Minister for Finance outlined the details of the NAMA legislation. I thank him, his staff and advisers, as well as the Attorney General and his officials, for the huge volume of work they have put into the Bill. I also thank the Cabinet for its input and guidance, as well as those who have offered many constructive suggestions. As many have commented, this legislation is one...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: The Government's existing recapitalisation package includes a number of measures to boost lending and underpin economic activity. These measures include a commitment by the two main banks to increase lending capacity to small and medium-sized enterprises this year by 10% over last year's levels, and to provide an additional 30% capacity for lending to first-time buyers this year. The...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: There is no evidence to support that-----

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: -----and it is unfair to working families facing financial difficulties to continually suggest that this is the case. Of course, difficulties must be monitored and worked through, but I do not agree with the contention that was made yesterday. There have been moves in a number of countries to remove the impact of impaired loans or other toxic assets from the balance sheets of banks so that...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: The support we are providing is backed by assets that need only improve in value by 10% over the next ten years in order for this scheme to break even.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: Let me be clear about this, taking the subordinated debt into account, NAMA will have to achieve less than a 10% uplift over the current market values on its assets over ten years to break even. Any increase above this would accrue in its entirety to the taxpayer so the suggestion by Deputy Mitchell last evening that NAMA offers no possibility of a gain to the taxpayer is wrong. Finally, I...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: It is telling that Deputy Bruton's examples of how the Fine Gael scheme will work are Washington Mutual, Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley, none of which is providing any significant new lending in their respective economies at present.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: Having explained that we are not trying to provide a bailout for developers, I must state also that neither is the Government motivated by protecting the providers of risk capital. Shareholders in these banks have already lost much of the value in their investment as shares have fallen over 90% from their peak. If State capital is needed after the transfer of loans to NAMA, it will be in...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: Certain bondholders have also lost out as a large amount of subordinated debt has been bought back by the banks in recent months at a significant discount - with the result that bondholders took substantial losses relative to the face value of the bonds.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: This was organised in such a way that no event of default arose - the bondholders were given a choice. The buy backs by the three largest banks have resulted in losses of almost €4 billion from face value for those bondholders and resulted in accounting gains for the financial institutions. That has increased their core capital putting them in a better position to absorb the discount...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: It is a priority for the Government to ensure that the membership of the new structure is highly authoritative, expert and experienced in all of the key areas required for it to effectively discharge its responsibilities. As Members are aware, the Government has already announced the appointment of Professor Patrick Honohan as governor. A director of financial supervision will be appointed...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Sep 2009)

Brian Cowen: The new structures will provide improved levels of enforcement, more responsible and transparent lending policies and ensure a financial sector that acts in the interest of the customer rather than with an eye to short-term gain. Most of the Opposition Deputies have concentrated on the risk to the taxpayers that NAMA will not recover sufficient funds to pay back the bonds issued. They have...

Data Protection. (6 Oct 2009)

Brian Cowen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together. Although sensitive information belonging to members of the public is not generally collected by or stored in the Department's electronic systems, specific measures are in place in my Department to protect all data held electronically. Access to personal information held on databases within my Department is controlled by application...

Data Protection. (6 Oct 2009)

Brian Cowen: This question applies to procedures within my Department, so I am not in a position to comment as regards other matters. Such questions are best put to the line Ministers concerned as regards specific queries the Deputy may have. In terms of my Department, in the body of my reply I indicated that the hard drives of all laptops are encrypted and the departmental data is not physically stored...

Data Protection. (6 Oct 2009)

Brian Cowen: The availability of information as a general principle is obviously something of which one would be in favour. However, other considerations are sometimes in play, such as the confidentiality of personal information, and the information may not be regarded by the individuals concerned or affected as a matter that should come into the public domain in any event. There are, therefore, various...

Data Protection. (6 Oct 2009)

Brian Cowen: With regard to what happens if a device is missing or stolen, in that event, the user account associated with that device is immediately disabled and, in the case of BlackBerries, they are centrally disabled from the server and the memory of the machine is also wiped in this procedure; the network provider is notified so that the SIM card is disabled, which renders the device inaccessible to...

Data Protection. (6 Oct 2009)

Brian Cowen: I indicated in a previous reply to a supplementary questions from Deputy Burton that the Department of Finance is the Department of the public service and when I was Minister for Finance I undertook a process of co-ordination to ensure best practice in this area across all Departments, agencies and offices. In my detailed reply to a previous supplementary I indicated that that process was...