Results 2,021-2,040 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Regarding the Watergate moment, are the tapes of the capital market desk distinct from the Anglo Irish Bank tapes? How many bankers are recorded on those tapes admitting they were insolvent? How long did it take place before the embellishment document that Professor Connor described?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Esmond Birnie wrote very strongly against entry into the euro. In the Northern Ireland Parliament, three of the five parties accepted the dangers of the euro. There were some in Irish economics and public life who acknowledged there were dangers in entering the euro without reading the small print.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor Walsh. When Professor Ed Kane was before the committee, he said in his presentation that regulatory officials and industry lobbyists resist transparent performance accounting. How does Professor Walsh respond to that?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What should be in a stress test?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The point is raised in Professor Walsh's evidence that even if auditors had been willing to be whistleblowers, the regulator was not listening so it would not make any difference if they had blown the whistle. What should be the relationship between the auditors and the regulator?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Should Ireland not have dumped the Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, GAAP, for International Accounting Standards, IAS, 39? Is there substance in that, as opposed to a technical accounting matter, that we can explain to the people at home? Was it a serious change?

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I echo the praise for the Acting Leader for his organisation of the meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Association, BIPA. Praise for him was echoing around the halls because the guests he brought into the country enjoyed the occasion very much. One whom I met, who is strongly of the Unionist persuasion, told me not to let British Airways take over Aer Lingus because when it took...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, on establishing the Low Pay Commission and for nominating Dr. Donal De Buitléir as the chairman. The commission's economists are Ms Mary Mosse from Waterford Institute of Technology and Professor Donal O'Neill from Maynooth University. We have a problem with low pay and increasing inequality. The Minister of State has chosen...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What one gets is a PR-driven takeover whereby we, representing 25.1% of the shareholders, are not even given a prospectus as to why we should agree with this. We should not consent to any done deals being promoted in the media. The situation is getting more serious by the day and it is time that we had a full debate in this House. There is a motion tabled that I believe should be taken.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I note that there are 200 amendments today, of which 134 are proposed by the Minister, so the thinking is obviously evolving. The submissions made to the Minister by the Employment Law Association of Ireland and Senator Craughwell, who is a trade union leader, might merit consideration at the next stage. The Minister's thinking is obviously evolving as he listens to the debates and...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I compliment Senators Power, van Turnhout and Healy Eames for all the work they put into this Bill. Like my learned colleague, Senator Norris, I have listened to the debate and we have learned a great deal. For that we are very much indebted to the Senators. I thank the Senators opposite, Senators Moloney, Conway and Brennan, for their generosity of spirit. Sometimes those on the...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: -----make derogatory remarks and so on, but the friendships in this House surpass all of that. They have been so kind and generous in terms of the spirit of this legislation they deserve special thanks from everybody on this side. I wish the Bill well and commend it to the Minister. It will make 50,000 or 60,000 people much happier, as we have heard. I compliment Dr. Fergus Ryan for the...

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: We will support him because we are at one on that issue. This is a suitable way to remember the historic events we will commemorate next year in that we are removing stigma from children and promoting the rights of natural mothers and fathers. We do cherish all the children of the national equally and protect their civil rights. If we have had advice which was very hard to bear from...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Following on from Deputy Michael McGrath's question, Mr. Buti said the guarantee was too broad. What would he have taken out of the guarantee?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What would Mr. Buti take out?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: At the end of page 2 and page 3 of his presentation, for which I thank him, Mr. Buti said the Irish banking sector was severely oversized relative to the size of the local economy and the fiscal capacity of the Irish sovereign. By how much was it oversized and what is an optimum share of GDP to have in banking?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: On page 3 of his presentation, Mr. Buti said that many states were exclusively concerned with micro-prudential supervision and insufficient attention was paid to macro-prudential supervision. When every single bank goes broke the micro was not well carried out. On the macro side, did the Commission know that rules such as loan-to-value and loan-to-income disappeared during the period coming...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: What was the procedure? Did Mr. Buti's people visit the Central Bank or take data from it, or visit banks, to discuss issues such as the emphasis on property and the emphasis on borrowing abroad? Were any of these issues ever discussed as part of the supervision?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: On page 8 of his presentation, Mr. Buti said the sudden drop in residential house prices undermined the viability of most Irish banks and exposed a striking lack of supervisory and regulatory rigour. That writing was on the wall long before that and it did not take the decline in house prices to know that what was going on was not sustainable.