Results 2,121-2,140 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: Discussion (29 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: British Airways will operate a service from Dublin to Tokyo. Is that why Ms Quin is in favour of it?

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Second Stage (29 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. Like other Senators, I support the Minister and this Bill. As I was coming to the House I heard Senator Whelan refer to Chinese walls. There is a story that one law firm in Dublin has so many Chinese walls that we can also see it from outer space. I do not believe in Chinese walls any more than Senator Whelan does. It is interesting that President Obama is on the...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the fact that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications is to have hearings on the sale of Aer Lingus to British Airways. I commend the Chairman, Deputy John O'Mahony. The examination of the sale announced in the House yesterday by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport involves a review body involving NewERA, two investment banks and one of the big...

Seanad: Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister for her comments and thoughts on the Bill. I assure her with regard to the pay and pensions provisions, that I was hoping to save money. The aim was to ensure pay and pension disputes would be resolved without recourse to the High Court. I agree with Senator David Norris's suggestion that we invoke the statutory instruments that place the burden on the trustees of...

Seanad: Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: It is a very nice quotation.

Seanad: Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the Minister. I thank the Bills Office, the Leader's office, the Cathaoirleach's office and my research assistants, Dr. Charles Larkin and Ms Ursula Ní Choill, for their help in preparing the Bill. We are dealing with the role of the university and the contribution it will make in the future to the development of Ireland...

Seanad: Possible Sale of Aer Lingus: Statements (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister to the House. It is not the first time the Minister and I have had these discussions on aviation policy and I am sure we will have many more. I do not know what the board of Aer Lingus recommended and agreed to. If there is nothing there, as the Minister's speech said, that is fine with me because like the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: Nobody needs an excuse to go to San Francisco.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor Kane. On page 11 of his submission, he refers to "the risks incurred in backstopping TBTF firms cannot be calculated and priced in the straightforward way that the risks of bond or insurance contracts can". How does he calculate the risk? Can he comment on the estimate of Ms Admati that it is worth approximately $300 billion a year in the United States to have that...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: We should have had a number of that kind in our accounts ever since bank regulation began in Ireland.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: Professor Kane mentioned on page 3 that there is a role for both regulators and auditors to explicitly monitor loss-shifting activity. We will ask questions of auditors. What should they be doing in properly regulating banks after what has happened in Ireland and the US since 2008?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: Professor Kane says that both officials and industry lobbyists resist transparent performance accounting. What do we have in transparent performance accounting?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: Could two kinds of banks emerge from this, where we guarantee some and the rest have a note on the door informing people that they are not guaranteed by the Government? One is a utility bank and the other is some kind of casino.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: Regulators as trustees brings a new kind of regulation. If we must recommend what new regulators should be doing, trustees presumably have a view of how regulation is performed in the interest of society as a whole. Can Professor Kane develop the point?

Seanad: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion (27 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister, as always. I compliment him on his choice of the members of the commission whom I happen to know, namely, Judge Yvonne Murphy, Professor Mary Daly and Dr. William Duncan. He has chosen people who will serve the Oireachtas well in their work. As others have said, we are finding out more and more awful things about how children and their mothers were treated. A...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I echo the concerns of Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Howlin and Senator Darragh O'Brien regarding the proposed takeover by British Airways of Aer Lingus. In remote parts of the UK such as Scotland, which has a population of 5.3 million - a half million more people than in this State - there is six times more capacity on the North Atlantic out of Dublin than there is out of Glasgow and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Greek Election Result (27 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I wish to comment.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Greek Election Result (27 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: The Minister of State said he would welcome the comments of Senators. I take it that is not appropriate in the Cathaoirleach's view.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Greek Election Result (27 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat.

Seanad: Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 3: In page 4, line 2, after “House.” to insert the following:“For the purposes of this section information shall include all written, verbal, electronic or other communication to and from the Central Bank concerning banks operating in the State, including the IFSC. The information shall include information from the covered institutions, their...