Results 16,241-16,260 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: Let us get the facts clear. In autumn of 2007, we had a major problem with regard to liquidity in the international system. The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and everyone else including the Central Bank of Ireland, were working in the context of trying to ensure we could maintain liquidity in the system. This is all documented for anyone to see. By autumn 2008, when Lehman...

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: There is a debate being carried on in the country and in this House and particularly by Fine Gael, that seeks to suggest this is an issue which originated here, for which we are to blame and for which I am to blame.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I want to make a distinction and I will defend my position as Minister for Finance with anyone. I continue to take, as every Government should, full responsibility for its actions at all times but I am not going to take the revised version of history coming from Deputy Kenny who had an even looser fiscal policy framework to put to the Irish people when he sought this job at the last election.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: When I was Minister for Finance I refused to take some of the options offered by Fine Gael such as the abolition of stamp duty in order to revive the property market. I was the person who refused to take all that advice from Fine Gael which it regarded as an opportunity to win middle class votes in the general election. Those are the facts and I will not take the revisionism that Deputy...

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: In regard to yesterday's decisions and how they were portrayed, the capital that is being provided by the Government to the banks involves, first, the conversion of preference shareholdings in AIB and Bank of Ireland.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I am aware of that. I will answer all the questions.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I want to answer.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: No, if I may say so, Deputy Gilmore's introduction suggested it is a question of paying out €2 billion per year with nothing to be gained from it. In respect of the capital we have provided, we set out a promissory note arrangement over ten years. In return for this, we have the shareholdings in the bank and the assets that have been bought by NAMA.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The suggestion has been made that the assets bought by NAMA are worthless. These valuations were done under due diligence and set out by NAMA yesterday.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: It paid €8.5 billion for €15 billion in loans and it expects to recover the value of those loans over its seven to ten year lifetime. That is the purpose of the NAMA operation. Elements of this morning's debate seem to suggest that we are handing over money to the banks and getting nothing in return. We are getting assets to the value of the bonds we are giving to the banks over that...

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The second point raised by the Deputy concerned representations. I did not receive any representation from Anglo Irish Bank on what was to be done that night.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: On any night.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I reject the continuing effort to suggest otherwise. The Minister for Finance and I dealt with this on the basis of advice from public officials. We made the decisions on that and no other basis. In regard to the question of what else was involved, we made the decisions that night and the discussions continued until the early hours of the morning. It was not a question of me getting...

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: That is wrong.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I have had respect for Deputy Gilmore as a Deputy down the years.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: If, as he says, this respect is reciprocated I want to tell him very sincerely that in my 25 years in politics I have been beholden to nobody. Every decision I ever made in the privileged positions I held in this and other offices has been in the best interest of my country as I saw it. I accept that in a democratic debate, irrespective of how arduous or tough it may be, people may hold...

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I consider that to be beyond the Pale. I understand that people are angry about what has happened, and rightly so, but I also have the responsibility to say that anger in itself is not a policy. We have to fix this and move on. We have to make sure the country can employ people and has the prospect of growth, businesses with access to credit and a banking system that is fit for purpose.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy should be under no illusion about the motivation behind every decision I have made during the difficult times in which I have held this office, irrespective of whether he agrees with them. They were the very same, laudable motivations that would have moved him had he been in my position. I would never come into this House to accuse another Irishman of what he accused me.

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: The second point I wish to make-----

Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2010)

Brian Cowen: I am a politician and I know how it works. I can see the opportunity which the Opposition wishes to grasp in terms of seeking to inflict political damage. I can defend myself by arguing and debating. I am well able to look after myself when it comes to that.