Results 14,161-14,180 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes we provided in, in, in the policy manifesto for a contingency in, in that respect.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: I don't know what the level, we, we said that in, in budgeting that would have to be an element, I don't have that detail.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: We were looking at bringing down the growth rate ... on, on ...a, a spending growth rate.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Spending growth rate, which had been going in the opposite direction in the years before.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No, my recollection is something similar. I mean, I think rumours were coming through the night before that there was going ... there was pressure, that the banks were in serious difficulty and that something might happen and so I think the following morning Brian Lenihan phoned to say the Government was making this decision and, obviously, there was ... he was setting up briefing and...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No, I mean I think I've outlined it in my submission. I mean, repeatedly there wasn't. I mean, at the very first time when the Central Bank and IFSRA legislation came in, I sought that there should be a proper study of the adequacy of our oversight mechanisms, that we should, you know, in light of then financial breakdowns like Enron and so on, that we needed to stress test our approach....

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes, I suppose at that time, the key issue for us was, as I said, two things. One was restoring enterprise, innovation and exports, that was the model. That had been severely undermined, and we believed that part of that was a tax policy that would be more supportive of enterprise. So we did, with the economy forecast as it was then, to be on a reasonable growth phase, we believed that...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well, clearly we have advocated that tax expenditure should be put under the same scrutiny as anything else and I think that has been a consistent part of the budgetary strategy we articulated in those years because I think it is true, as the Deputy said, that a huge commitment, that no one had known the size of it, to the property sector had built up and it was renewed each year and there...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well, I think, you know, low rates of corporate tax, low rates of capital gains tax and low rates of ... and competitive rates of income tax are consistent with an enterprise strategy. The difficulty, I think, what happened in those years is that property had taken over ... speculation had taken over from, if you like, a genuine enterprise sector and you see the figures yourself. I mean,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well, my belief was that - and I articulated it on several occasions - that the planning system was the problem that was at fault there, not the capital gains tax regime ... that our planning system had simply ... was not fit for purpose and we were encouraging a structure, as you say, of people going to more and more remote areas, getting land rezoned, putting people on impossible treadmills...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Absolutely. Our whole ... our whole strategy was built around-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: -----our whole strategy was built around rebooting the whole enterprise sector-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Absolutely, and, I mean, you're-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: -----the proof of the pudding is in the way-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: In the very same ... in the very same way as our Action Plan for Jobs in the last number of years has focused on all the barriers that prevent exporting and innovation and job creation. We looked to, you know, to make it easier to start a business, make it easier to get access to credit in areas of enterprise, you know, developing the innovation base of the economy, rebuild the skill base...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: -----as you know had ... had been demolished in that period-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: -----we needed to rebuild the manufacturing base and invest and-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: But he-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No, not on the tax system. The changes that we sought to develop were the ones that you can see in practice in the Action Plan for Jobs, which is about making it easier to create employment, you know, creating the incentives to rebuild an enterprise sector, which had been demolished by the construction ... as I say, the growth in export-oriented job growth had fallen by 90% between that...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: I met with them on occasion, and, obviously, we met with them when we scrutinised them in the Oireachtas finance committee. I couldn't give you a count, but, clearly, we were throughout this period, obviously, as legislators challenging them in committees. There were a number of instances, as you know, through that period where bank overcharging, proper, you know, weaknesses in supervision,...