Results 2,101-2,120 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: That is a cynical abuse of parliamentary procedure.

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: It would of course be welcome if Government Deputies had participated fully in the debate. For example, if they had joined us last week when we were here at midnight without a guillotine, that would have been welcome. In the context of a guillotine, however, it is cynicism in the extreme. In regard to the proposal to legislate for a plebiscite before any water services are privatised, it...

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: They are champions for public ownership of our resources and our services. It is unfortunate that we cannot believe their bona fides.

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: The reason this issue has become so important is because people, from bitter experience, do not trust the political establishment. It is incredible to hear a Labour Party Deputy blithely absolve herself and others of any blame for breaking her party's election promises on the grounds that Fine Gael's policies were different during the course of the election. Suddenly, the massively...

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: -----the domestic collection services.

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: They have deliberately prevented us from getting to later amendments.

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: My comments are very relevant to the issue of privatisation, which is the subject of the amendment. Senior Ministers have come into this House and blamed the privatisation of refuse services on the campaign by the people of Dublin in 2003 against a new refuse tax, ignoring the truth that the vast majority of local authorities, while dominated by the parties opposite, had already privatised...

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: The reason this amendment is not what it purports to be is because it can be removed by a future Government or Dáil, depending on the complexion of the majority, through a simple vote on legislation. The absolute guarantee against privatisation is not making a market commodity of this crucial resource called water. Do not parcel it up so that it can then become a focus of pressure from...

Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: ----- on the back of the campaign against water charges. I was a champion of that. Abolish water charges now. It will happen anyway. The question is whether it will be sooner or later. The longer it takes to abolish water charges, the greater the body count of Labour Party candidates. If they want to avoid a water massacre, they should abolish charges now instead of waiting for the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: In the introduction to his report on page 2, Mr. Nyberg stated Anglo in particular was widely admired domestically and abroad and lauded by many investors, consultants, analysts, rating agencies and the media. He said the long upswing in the property market, accompanied by relentless media attention, eroded the risk awareness both of banks and their customers in Ireland. In page 5 of the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: I have one last question. Mr. Nyberg speaks of an assumption by many that the financial markets would be stable and efficient by virtue of their own workings. When the drive for profit maximisation and what could be cut-throat competition between financial capitalists happen in the financial markets, how could it be rational to think there could be stability in that system? With regard to...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Nyberg spoke to the speculators. He said "speculation" so he spoke to the speculators. I am curious to learn whether they were aware of the social downside of their speculation. Would Mr. Nyberg say it is fair to put an ordinary worker buying a home, a human necessity, on the same level as a bank speculator? He seems to do so.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: Did Mr. Nyberg's commission examine the level of profit taking on the part of investors, banks and developers in the Irish property market leading up to the crisis?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: I am referring to what some of the major institutions were returning in terms of profits from the market.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: Anglo was obviously highly profitable.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: As Mr. Nyberg states, other banks were essentially chasing Anglo. Is it true to say, therefore, that they were chasing an abnormal level of profitability?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: Obviously, the huge extensions of credit they offered and the massive borrowing, etc., in which they engaged were in pursuit of greater profits. Is that correct?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: Would Mr. Nyberg consider what occurred to be profiteering?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: Yes, but is it moral that - as Mr. Nyberg is apparently saying - there are no restraints on institutions in the context of the level of profits they can pursue?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Joe Higgins: I will approach the matter from a slightly different angle. In the ten years leading up to the crash, by common consent, house prices in Ireland escalated at a dizzying rate. During the period in question, they rose by perhaps the equivalent of the industrial wage each year. The young generation of working people who were not buying to speculate but to have a roof over their heads found...