Results 21,341-21,360 of 35,894 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: That is the problem.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Will the Minister of State let me finish?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister of State got very defensive. It is a blank cheque in all matters, except the amount of money that we will make available to the facility. There are likely to be more problems in Europe in the future and people will consider how we should address them. One of the ways to do so would be by amending the loan facility agreement. The Government would not have to revert to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I will conclude on this point. The Minister of State has championed political reform previously and I am sure he still holds those views. Given all of the difficulties, why would he be opposed to any amendment to the loan facility agreement being laid before the Houses for its approval? That is democracy. That represents proper parliamentary oversight in the best way possible. If it is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Okay.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Has any other jurisdiction conferred on its Minister for Finance all of the powers necessary to implement the loan agreement and the reviews and amendments, as provided for in this jurisdiction under section 2? These are expansive powers.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 4:In page 4, line 7, to delete “Minister” and substitute “Oireachtas”. The amendment also deals with the issue of whether ministerial or Oireachtas approval should be required. Section 3, as presented, provides that, on the approval of the Minister, payments up to a sum of €1.815 billion may be made from the Central Fund, as required....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Is the Minister of State referring to amendment No. 4?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the decision of the Minister of State to accept amendment No. 5 which is, as I indicated, another fail-safe mechanism or safeguard which addresses my concerns about one element of section 2, namely, the sum of money involved. Amendment No. 4 proposes to confer the power of decision making on the Oireachtas as opposed to the Minister. If I understood the Minister of State...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Where a financial institution has gone bust to some degree or another, all of the steps set out as part of the resolution waterfall must be taken. It is not, therefore, the case that institution X would be in serious trouble and that we would need to trigger this mechanism within a couple of days. A number of steps have to be taken and the process relating to them will take quite some time....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I do not see from where the Minister of State is coming. There is no way that this would happen overnight. Unfortunately, we have been there and done that. The Minister of State and I sat on the banking inquiry. The Houses of the Oireachtas were convened and a guarantee was introduced basically overnight. Regardless of whether that needed to be done, it was a scenario in which, in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Why four days? The Minister of State has not explained that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Is it four days from the request?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The request will not be made on the day that the bank says that it is in trouble.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Okay, I signal that I want to withdraw the amendment, but I reserve the right to retable it on Report Stage. The Minister made a valid point on elections, when the Oireachtas does not sit, but beyond that I do not agree with the points made. I will table an amended version of this that will take into account times when the Oireachtas is not sitting when the decision can be triggered....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 5: In page 4, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(2) Notwithstanding the provision of section 2, any decision under the terms of the Loan Facility Agreement to vary the sum specified in section 3(1)* shall be subject to a vote of the Oireachtas.”.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 6:In page 5, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following:“or(c) within one month of any payment made under section 3.”. This is a simple amendment. The legislation currently states that the Minister shall report within a year or at the end of each year on the payments made. This amendment would include the option of the Minister reporting within one...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Subject to that provision, is the amendment agreed?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: There is a gap at the moment. The penalties are €500,000 and three years as opposed to the €10 million.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I support that and I agree with the points Deputy Paul Murphy has made. As I said on Second Stage, it is not the best way to do this. I am not sure why primary legislation was not drafted to deal with this but we are where we are and it needs to be introduced. There is a gap. I thank the Minister of State for the note on this. I have questions as to the advice the Minister received in...