Results 16,261-16,280 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I need to finish my answer. We have built up an understanding with the troika. Unlike the previous Administration-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: It goes to the core of what we are discussing. It understands that, as we have delivered on everything else, we will deliver on this.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I am trying to explain the situation. The first thing I negotiated was whether I could invest the money before we reached the €3 billion target. That is why I was able to announce it in advance. It is not, as the Deputy is implying, the case that until we get €3 billion in the bank, we cannot start spending. That is not the agreement. We do not know what will accrue but we...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We are very confident that the stimulus plan I have announced so far will be fully funded. I hope and am very confident that more stimulus plans will flow in addition to that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I answered that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I have already answered that question. It is not, in the sense that we can start spending the money immediately, before €3 billion accrues to the State from the sale of State assets. Is that clear?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That is a reasonable way of putting it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We will see these things over time. As I explained to the Deputy, we do not have to reach the €3 billion target before we start spending. We will wait to see what the items we have for sale accrue. They might surprise us all. Perhaps we will get €3 billion from what we have on the table. We will see.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: This is over and above the normal discipline we have on expenditure. It is over and above the agreement we have on taxation, how to deal with asset sales and how we apply them. There is nothing loose about it because it is a commercial transaction. The troika, no more than myself, cannot be certain of the sum of money that will accrue to the State for any particular asset. The troika,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The troika is fully apprised of everything we do, step by step.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The troika has understood about the Aer Lingus situation for months.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Because the troika members would have been aware of the intervention of the UK Competition Authority and the implication that had for the sale in the short term.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Obviously it would make no sense at all to make any decision about Aer Lingus while the actual shareholding of another significant shareholder in the company was under scrutiny.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: If it was still a wholly State-owned company I would probably agree with the Deputy. However, I am afraid the small shareholding that we now have, which is not only a minority shareholding but a small enough minority shareholding, unfortunately is not strategic in the sense that it can no longer influence the policy of the company. That was a decision made by a previous Government.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I do not know and if I did know I would not tell this committee.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That is what I am advised.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I did not ask.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The only question I asked was whether it was likely we would get a fair value in our own estimations for these companies and the advice was that we would.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)
Brendan Howlin: No, I did not.