Results 2,081-2,100 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

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

Sean Barrett: A Nervous Nellie man in the Department of Finance.

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

Sean Barrett: Were views expressed to Professor FitzGerald in the controversy about the regulator for the financial sector, whether it would be in the Central Bank or entirely separate? Were telephone calls made on that issue?

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

Sean Barrett: On the McDowell report on how to regulate the financial sector inside the Central Bank.

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

Sean Barrett: Did Professor FitzGerald have a policy on the best way to regulate banks that caused this telephone call or how did it arise?

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

Sean Barrett: For my last question, did Professor FitzGerald meet any contrarians in the banking system itself? Did any of the bank economists express concern to him? Did they see their own companies going over a cliff?

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

Sean Barrett: The macro prudential instruments we restored approximately two weeks ago existed in the past, probably before 1999. How did they disappear from the system, without anybody noticing, apparently?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: ECOFIN Briefings: Minister for Finance (10 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: The Minister is welcome, as always. I wonder whether the fault is the lack of an exit mechanism in the euro. He made a comment several years ago about feta cheese which was taken as humour, whereas I think his point was that Greece needs to export more. It is stuck at a fixed exchange rate compared to the drachma. I predict that this problem will recur despite efforts to make up for it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: ECOFIN Briefings: Minister for Finance (10 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: It is worrying to hear that 16 countries are in trouble of some kind.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: ECOFIN Briefings: Minister for Finance (10 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Could there be a more open cost-benefit analysis of the strategic investment plans? When they do not work they leave the debt mountain in place and we do not get the increase in GDP. There is a "free money from Brussels" syndrome in spending that money. I hope there is a high standard of project appraisal to prevent a recurrence. The anti-money-laundering directive and the anti-abuse...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the work of journalists in dealing with the HSBC bank's facilitation of large scale tax dodging. Margaret Hodge, MP, the chair of the Westminster Public Accounts Committee, said that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has been far too lenient in taking up battles against corporate tax avoidance. The famed French economist, Thomas Piketty, said the offshore industry is a major...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: daa: Chairman Designate (10 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Mr. Ó Ríordáin to the meeting. I will try not to overlap with the questions raised by my colleague Senator Darragh O'Brien. While I acknowledge the difficulties around security the current arrangements in this regard from the customer point of view are a hassle. While the staff are very courteous security arrangements are making travel an ordeal. I believe...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. I think Senator Norris's amendment is well worth considering on two grounds. This week, at a meeting of Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, we discussed the same issue that we discussed last week. Any lobbying on the matter had to be done in public. During this week's meeting, members of the lobby group that had appeared the previous week, who did not...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor Black. There are approximately 12 references in Professor Black's ten-page paper to Gresham's dynamic. Could he explain that to people watching on television, bearing in mind that here, the Gresham is a very eminent hotel? Even the folks in the hotel may be looking in. Could he explain what he means when he refers to the Gresham?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank Professor Black for that.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I expect the people in the hotel will feel much better after that. Could Professor Black explain the concept of PPI abuses - payment protection insurance - and the 80% mark-up for those watching on television?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: One of the things we will be discussing when all the witnesses have gone away is an important recommendation Professor Black makes - that Ireland should not have junked GAAP for IAS 39. It is important for us to understand that change in accounting standards and how Professor Black thinks it contributed to our problems.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I am sure that is something we will come back to. Is there any literature Professor Black has come across that states "No bank should fail"?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I have a final question before the Chairman calls this to a halt. Professor Black's presentation states: "I do not believe any of the purported horrors of increased capital requirements for banks." What would Professor Black have in mind? What percentage of equity should they bring to the scene?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank Professor Black.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: I echo the Chairman's welcome to Mr. Nava and his football analogy. Many Irish people will be in Rome this weekend for rugby, and we have many happy memories of Italia '90, even "Toto" Schillaci. We got one back four years later when Ray Houghton got the goal. Terrific friendships were formed at that time, and I join the Chairman in welcoming Mr. Nava here. Mr. Nava also represents a very...