Results 23,121-23,140 of 26,986 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett
- Personal Insolvency Bill 2012: From the Seanad (Resumed) (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: On behalf of the United Left Alliance, I wish to express our concern and disappointment. In general terms, we all want to achieve some relief for those in mortgage distress or who are otherwise stuck under the burden of significant personal indebtedness. There is a genuine desire across the House to do something about that, but it is disappointing that we have not gone a hell of a lot...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Nobody is responsible.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Every member of the joint committee has expressed a frustration which represents the public view on mortgage relief and, though we did not go into it, lending to SMEs. We have invested a great deal in the banks and the public is getting very little in return. I ask the witnesses to disregard their current roles and to tell us objectively who is responsible for bringing about the change...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Can the Minister tell Permanent TSB to write down the debt to sustainable levels?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: That is a fair point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: So we have hundreds of people wading through, trying to figure out on a case-by-case basis what is sustainable and what the bank considers acceptable. Enormous resources are being wasted on that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Let me put it another way because I have two minutes left. Is not everybody who took out a mortgage, more or less from 2000 to 2008 - or who lost their job as a result of the crash, and who consequently cannot pay their mortgage - an innocent victim of a crisis caused by other people in the banking system?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: To my mind, surely there is no moral hazard in giving them relief. It is in the public interest both in terms of the economy and for them as members of the public, that they get relief which should require debt write-down. The moral hazard for most of the public is that the banks who caused the crisis are the ones who get bailed out across the board. All the banks get bailed out but the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: It is because most people are not scammers like, arguably, the bankers and speculators were.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, but would it not-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: They would.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: It is very simple. If we identify the bubble period - and it is not hard to identify it, between about 2002 and 2008 - that group of people, whether or not they are in mortgage distress now, or whether they are in negative equity - which is also a form of distress, although not as bad as being in arrears - are unique. They are in trouble through no fault of their own. We could quantify how...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: It seems to me that there is no way out of this mess if we carry on because you guys have a veto. Mr. MacSharry has said he will continue to act primarily in the interests of the company. On a number of occasions, he has stated that he finds himself bound by company law. There is clearly a conflict between his loyalty or requirement to serve the best interests of the company as against the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: When Mr. MacSharry says that 20% of the bank's residential mortgages are in trouble, would it not be fair to say that a lot of those people, if not most, have lost their jobs?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: In most cases, they are in arrears because they have lost their jobs.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Is Mr. MacSharry telling us that if a person has lost their job they are also going to lose their house?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Nothing Mr. MacSharry has told us gives us any reason to believe other than the fact that if a person has lost their job they will lose their house.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I will ask some quick-fire questions on facts before I get into the main question. It was said that 20% of the 174,000 mortgages are in arrears.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)
Richard Boyd Barrett: How many residential mortgages are there?