Results 17,281-17,300 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Regulatory Reform (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: In many cases, regulatory impact assessments form part of memorandums for the Government. They come before the Government and are subject to that wider confidentiality rule. However, as for being able to explain the basis for legislation and the reason a particular range of steps or initiatives have been taken, debates on legislation, whether on Second, Committee or Report Stage, offer an...

Regulatory Reform (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: The 2020 strategy has been adopted at the previous European Council meeting. There will be a detailed legislative response at European and other levels regarding that. I accept Deputy Perry's point that there is an increasing body of legislation and directives that require scrutiny. Under the Lisbon treaty we now have a greater degree of involvement by national parliaments. In the past it...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: Deputy Kenny misrepresents the position. There are no sweetheart deals with regard to the National Asset Management Agency. The dealings are on a loan by loan basis and they have been aggressively valued. We were the first country to do that and there is every prospect that will be recognised. There is no question of imposing a national asset management style approach to residential...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy's line is a nice line to throw out, but if he thinks about it he will see it has the very opposite effect of what he claims he is trying to do. The Deputy should not put out his little by-lines and then expect they will not be referred to in the response. There is no question of doing that. What we are trying to do and what the interim report on mortgage arrears and personal...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: I will try to deal with that stream of consciousness as best I can.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: First, the Leader of the Opposition decides to attack the integrity of the board of NAMA which has a statutory authority from this House to operate independently of anyone else based on the provisions laid out in the relevant Act. He is suggesting that the integrity of those individuals should now be impugned.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: That is ridiculous. If that is the level of debate we are going to have, it is just a joke.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: Here we go again. The scenario outlined in the draft plan for the National Asset Management Agency of a profit of €4.8 billion was based, as stated in the first sentence of that report, on the information being provided by the banks at the time. The agency has now produced its quarterly report, as required under the Act, and is setting out its central projection based on current asset...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: There has been some misunderstanding of the plan in advance of its publication. It is not true to say that NAMA now expects to make a loss. There are three scenarios set out in the plan. Under the central scenario, based on current expected asset recovery values NAMA is projected to make a profit. There are two other scenarios which are variations on the central projection, one in which...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: The whole purpose of a business plan is to estimate the outcome under different assumptions. We have had an argument in the past regarding whether risk assessments were put in place.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: At issue is the draft plan brought forward in October, the first line of which states it is based on information provided by the banks. As the House is aware, there was much surprise in the banking system as to the aggressive nature of the writedowns with which NAMA came up. NAMA has decided, based on the data it has, what the value of those loans is and has paid accordingly. That is the...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: Everything set out by NAMA confirms the aggressive nature of what it was doing to ensure we got a proper read on where we are at. This was done by NAMA and it has brought forward its central projection today which suggests that it still believes, based on the present asset values at the present time, that it will make a profit. With regard to whether it ends up with a loss, that would be...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: There are three scenarios.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: It is not my estimate. NAMA is making these reports as required under the Acts. Some of the amendments discussed and accepted by the Minister at the time enable NAMA to bring forward in a transparent way on a quarterly basis what the arrangements are. Deputy Burton seems to know. Perhaps she could brief her leader.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: I made that point exactly. I am simply helping out the Deputy. I might get some kudos.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: That is not the case at all. The Minister has been committed to dealing with the matter in an up-front way at all times. The central projection that NAMA has set out based on the up-to-date situation is that it will make a profit of something of the order of €1 billion. That is the central projection. It is set out over a ten year projection period based on current expected asset...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: I hold no brief for that. The point I am making relates to the policy response to the banking crisis. The asset management agency set up will enable us to obtain a viable banking system. The proposal at the time from the Labour Party was to temporarily nationalise all the banks. If one nationalised all the banks one would be allowing the taxpayers to fund arrangements of all those banks...

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: No, we have not actually. The Labour Party's proposal was to nationalise all the banks.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: The Labour Party's proposal was to nationalise all the banks, including the commercial banks.

Leaders' Questions. (6 Jul 2010)

Brian Cowen: That was the position. The fact of the matter is, thankfully, Bank of Ireland has raised capital on private markets which has saved the taxpayer that consideration. This report will be published. It will set out the situation and the central projection. I am outlining the factual position and the other scenarios. The report is simply making those scenarios available to the public so that...