Results 1,501-1,520 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: With the greatest of respect, the answer provided by the former Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, on 11 May and the one provided just now was probably cut and pasted word for word. That is fine because it was probably a very relevant answer. However, it suggested there was a misunderstanding on rectification versus compensation which I alluded to at the start of my discussion...

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I move amendment No. 17:In page 7, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:“Requirement to hold oral hearings 10. Where a complainant has made a request to hold an oral hearing, and where there is a discrepancy in the account of events between the parties that is fundamental to arriving at a conclusion, the Financial Service Ombudsman shall be obliged to hold an oral...

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I reiterate that there is no doubt that mediation is the best option. The amendment provides for an oral hearing only where a complainant makes a request. It does not force people into oral hearings they do not seek. While I agree that one should be careful what one wishes for in the sense that people should not take the oral hearing route if they do not know what is involved. The...

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: The Bill was introduced in good faith by Deputy Pearse Doherty in the Dáil and Senator Conway-Walsh and her team in this House. We are all working to achieve the best outcome for consumers. I speak on behalf of consumers and the people who put us here, as opposed to the Financial Services Ombudsman. If the ombudsman does not want a change in legislation, it is not a reason for me not...

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: It would be preferable and would improve the legislation if it was included. I will not press the amendment. I welcome the legislation in so far as it goes. I thank Deputy Pearse Doherty, Senator Conway-Walsh and their colleagues for putting it forward and my party colleagues, Deputies Michael McGrath and McGuinness, who are members of the select committee and who also contributed to the...

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: It was in the interests of getting the legislation passed rather than in the interests of the consumer. It will benefit the consumer.

Seanad: Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: Senator Conway-Walsh said I withdrew the amendments in the interests of the consumer. I did not withdraw them in the interests of the consumer but there is an indirect benefit if the legislation is passed more quickly. I think the amendments would have made the Bill better, but in the context of its passage through the House and arriving at a consensus, I am happy to allow it to go to the...

Seanad: Declaration of Independence Day Bill 2017: Second Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I welcome the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, and congratulate her on her reappointment. I think this is her first time in the Seanad since her reappointment to Cabinet.

Seanad: Declaration of Independence Day Bill 2017: Second Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I thank Senator Swanick. Before I bring in our next speaker I would like to welcome Deputy Darragh O'Brien, a former Senator, who was the leader of Fianna Fáil in the Seanad during the last term. He is very welcome to the House. We had two former Senators present during our last debate as the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy was in the Chamber while Deputy Pearse Doherty were in the...

Seanad: Declaration of Independence Day Bill 2017: Second Stage (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I am in the unusual position of having to leave the Chair in order to speak briefly on the Bill. I thank Senator Wilson for taking the Chair to let me do so. I wish to add to the contributions of the Senators on Senator Swanick, the sponsor of the Bill. It is a simple yet effective way of highlighting the day. If one asked many schoolchildren and even adults when the Dáil first met...

Seanad: Visit of Finnish Delegation (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I welcome a very distinguished guest, Mr. Timo Soini, the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Finland and Deputy Prime Minister of Finland, and his delegation. We hope they enjoy their time in Ireland.

Seanad: Declaration of Independence Day Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Seanad: Declaration of Independence Day Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: When is it proposed to sit again?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I welcome the Minister. He is the only member of Cabinet who kept his old job and got another job on top of it. I wish him the best of luck with all his responsibilities. No doubt we will be seeing plenty of him and his Ministers of State in this committee and in the Seanad. He has had a good interaction with all of us here this morning, including all the Senators present and Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: That is fair enough.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: If much or all of it was written off, it is obviously not as impressive as if it was repaid. Perhaps it was repaid. I am just looking for that information. Deputy Noonan, on his final appearance in the Seanad on the day before he retired from his position as Minister for Finance, referred to the State having the second largest debt level per person in the world after Japan. I ask the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: The national income is rising, but debt may not be falling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: The Minister is basically saying that the most likely way of reducing debt, or the quickest way of using the sales of the bank shares to reduce that debt it is to put it straight into-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: On the issue of corporation tax, we have had various commissioners into us here discussing the common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB, the pressures on our tax base and how our income from corporation tax might be affected by various proposals from Europe. I accept that there needs to be unanimity but there may be pressure in other ways to get us to adapt our position. We have a very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: ECOFIN Meeting: Minister for Finance (6 Jul 2017)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Minister for that. He is obviously also still the Minister for Public Expenditure and this joint committee is as much concerned with public expenditure as it is with finance. On the spending elements, the population is growing and people are living longer, which is welcome. Population growth in itself, however, puts a lot of pressure on things like school places and the...