Results 2,061-2,080 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: In respect of all those airports, I note from their websites that while British Airways serves Heathrow, all the other routes are developed by other carriers. Mr. Walsh is suggesting that what he did in the United Kingdom regions, that is, linking them all to Heathrow, will not be repeated in Dublin and we will not be left with the small presence on the north Atlantic that Birmingham,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The joint committee can look at the websites for the airports I mentioned and see how it is all Heathrow and London-focused. If one wants to have routes to anywhere else, Aer Lingus would be doing a better job.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I must point out that the consolidations Mr. Walsh talked about leave out two new entrants, namely, Ryanair, which is heading towards 100 million passengers and EasyJet, with 60 million passengers. There is a different model than the consolidation of legacy airlines.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Passengers are voting with their feet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: My statistics from the CAA for EasyJet state it has 51 million passengers. That figure is for 2013 and was downloaded this morning from the Civil Aviation Authority's website.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Is it not correct that to British Airways at present, Ireland is George Best and Dublin airports and nothing else? It does not serve Cork or Shannon airports but withdrew from those routes. Is that not correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) IAG (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Absolutely.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I wish to note that those promoting the takeover of Aer Lingus by British Airways have had a free run in the media today - on two radio stations and headlines on two newspapers, the Irish Independentand The Irish Times. Those of us who are responsible for the 25% stake in the company that the public does own are constrained by ridiculous takeover rules from the Irish Stock Exchange and we...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: This airline does have a future. We must ask people to look at the record of British Airways in the United Kingdom. It is now smaller than easyJet by far. It is smaller than Ryanair in its own country. It totally neglects Scotland. There are no services from Scotland on the north Atlantic route operated by British Airways. It neglects its own regions. It has reduced services in...

Seanad: Private Rental Sector: Motion (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. This is the most important issue facing us and we have to learn the lessons of the collapse. In this regard, the banking inquiry is coming to terms with some of the problems that arise on a daily basis. We lost the building society movement. Historically, that was the way people were able to acquire houses and there was a very high rate of home...

Seanad: Private Rental Sector: Motion (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Has the Cathaoirleach invited me to associate myself with Senator Craughwell?

Seanad: Private Rental Sector: Motion (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I am delighted to do so and I thank the Cathaoirleach.

Seanad: Private Rental Sector: Motion (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I will and I thank the Cathaoirleach.

Seanad: Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I support the amendment. We debated this issue in November and one of the Government backbenchers in my county sent me an email on the decision made at the time. Appropriately, he had been photographed beside the statue of a horse, as the email announced that the horse and greyhound fund was being increased by 26% to €68 million, of which 80% was to go to the horse racing industry....

Seanad: Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: There is one aspect the Minister of State might discuss with his officials before Report Stage. Some of these fellows exist in the cloud. The Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, had to amend the Finance Act to make corporations declare a residence, although they had an extra year to decide where they would like to be resident. In this case, the important point is that we are not quite sure...

Seanad: Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State and note that 15 of the 18 amendments have been proposed by the Minister. Consequently, I am glad he is listening to opinion on this legislation. Senator Craughwell has raised very important points, which also were mentioned by Senators Michael D'Arcy and Cummins. This is an appalling addiction and whereas cigarettes and alcohol take a long time, this can...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor FitzGerald. There is a quote that reflects a lot of what we have been talking about this morning from the IMF multi-country report published just last month on the housing recoveries in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. It states:Asset prices and other financial variables can help improve estimates of potential GDP. Most methodologies for estimating potential...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The contrast is with not taking into account credit developments, housing bubbles, interest-rate movements and financial developments. Professor FitzGerald said the single currency and monetary union required governments to behave differently. Can he expand on that?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The monetary union required governments to act differently from 1999, as Professor FitzGerald said in the introduction. There is the old examiner's question: "Discuss...". What would "acting differently" have meant if we had the benefit of hindsight?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: There seems to be evidence from previous witnesses that in terms of joining the single currency in 1999 to 2006 those were crucial years and there was not a policy response such as that the Government should behave differently. What does Professor FitzGerald think happened in that period?