Results 2,041-2,060 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: The point is that a home is a social need and those who profiteer are allowed to do so. That has been the situation in this country. In page 45 Mr. Regling says, "it appears particularly surprising that there was not a stronger reaction within the banks themselves and among supervisors to lending trends that saw progressive build-up of concentrated loan exposures to and within the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: In his introduction, Professor Lane set the discussion and processes in the euro area within a global economic and monetary system. I would like to dwell a little on that. He said in the written statement with which we were furnished that it was vital to understand that there were several structural changes in the international economy and the international financial system from the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: Is Professor Lane not overstating the sovereign states in a sense that Oxfam said that in 2007, at the beginning of the crash, the 80 richest billionaires had $1.5 trillion in the markets at that time. No doubt Professor Lane is familiar with the work of Professor David Harvey, professor of anthropology at the City University of New York. Professor Lane echoes in his opening remarks the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: I will return to Professor Lane's point on the "search for yield". In the 1970s by common consent we had a massive increase in petrodollars by sheiks and oil tycoons and that led to huge lending in the developing world which in turn led to an incredible debt crisis in Africa and Latin America, causing significant suffering of course for millions of people. Does Professor Lane see a...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: On page 2 of the written report furnished by Professor Lane which deals with the search for yield, he refers to synthetic higher risk assets that offered higher interest rates. He states, "Alternative investment products that offered the promise of higher returns also grew rapidly (hedge funds, private equity), with these entities taking on high debt loads in view of the low interest rate...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: I have one more question before I move on to the next point, whether what we have been talking about has a particular relevance to what happened in Ireland. Oxfam stated that the 80 richest people owned about 48% of world wealth in 2007, when the crash happened. Oxfam states that since 1990 income from labour has made up a declining share of gross domestic product across low, middle and...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: The key question relates to Europe, the euro area and Ireland. Why were countless billions of euro and dollars cascading around the financial markets in this way and why were so many exotic products developed? Why was the money in question not invested in manufacturing, for example, particularly in view of the fact that 25 million people in the European Union were unemployed? Why were...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: Would Professor Lane agree that the international financial markets as a phenomenon were simply becoming more parasitic? Against the background of the credit explosion, speculation and deregulation internationally, was it inevitable that the regulatory system was going to collapse? In an article which appeared in The New York Timesin 2005, it was claimed that Ireland had become known as the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Appointments to State Boards (20 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: 8. To ask the Taoiseach the process in place in his Department for appointments to the boards of State agencies and organisations. [43817/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (20 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: 4. To ask the Taoiseach if he has had meetings recently with religious leaders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41693/14]

Leaders' Questions (20 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: These are issues here.

Leaders' Questions (20 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: These are issues here.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: I have a general question first for the Governor. Some people would feel that in terms of a new report and indeed in other reports, in trying to get to this mystery of why there was not an intervention to stop the property bubble from being blown up, there is too much tiptoeing through the tulips and that we can get to a very fundamental reason. Is it the case that the property bubble was...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: The Governor agrees.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. Let us-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: Let us move on, then. I have to say we are making excellent progress so far. In page 109 of his report the Governor states, to paraphrase him, that the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank were mandated by legislation to pursue two goals: financial stability on the one hand and then on the other promotion of the financial sector-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: -----which you say may well have been in conflict.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: He stated that while the stability goal was given explicit priority, the potential conflict between the two goals complicated choices. Let us be concrete about that. The promotion of the financial sector must mean inviting banks in and encouraging existing banks to flourish. The banks' raison d'étreis the maximisation of profit. The property bubble was the site for making the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: Professor Honohan says on page 109 that the Financial Regulator was in a difficult position, as the possible adverse effects of discouraging inward investment in the Irish financial services sector were more immediate and real than the perceived distant concerns about financial stability. Is he saying there that proper effective regulation would discourage investment in the IFSC?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Joe Higgins: To return to the professor's non-intrusive regulatory environment, conducive to promoting the IFSC as considered important by the Government, the Department of the Taoiseach took a lead role. The professor referred to the clearing house group and for people who do not know, that body that was set up in 1987. It provides incredible access to all the leading financial institutions, big banks,...