Results 2,361-2,380 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Senator Bacik mentioned we might debate Irish Water again and I agree with what she said about the Minister, Deputy Kelly. If the approach he took had been the one adopted when this debate commenced, we would not be in the situation we are in now. When he introduced the Taxi Regulation Bill, he accepted many amendments and also tabled many amendments. Amendments to the water services...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Has Bank of Ireland shifted the deposit base because that was the other ingredient? Banks were borrowing far too much in the wholesale market and not enough in------

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: I again welcome our visitors. Let us look at the document which states: There were problems of credit quality, sustainable lending practices and adequacy of internal procedures ... Auditors, therefore, did not feel that commenting on the implications of such business model problems fell within their proper remit.Do we have better auditing of Irish banks than when Mr. Nyberg wrote this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Did the bank keep the same auditor or get a new one?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Has the level of property lending, as a percentage of total lending, decreased since the crisis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: That is essential. Mr. Boucher has mentioned that there is a need to ensure it will never happen again and that Irish banking must lose its fixation with property.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Senator Thomas Byrne mentioned the 20% deposit to loan value proposal by the Central Bank. Does Mr. Boucher have a response to it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: It is important. Mr. Nyberg reckoned that if we had had a 20% figure, Irish banks would have been €62 billion better off. The bailout amounted to €64 billion. The bulk of the problem stems from the deposit to loan ratio.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Is it not important that banks participate in this debate, as Mr. Boucher said, to ensure this will never happen again? Mr. Nyberg has provided an exact replica. He has said €62 billion of the €64 billion would not have arisen if we had a 20% deposit ratio.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Director compliance statements were considered to be necessary in 2006, but I think they were opposed by the Department of Finance. Did the Bank of Ireland oppose requiring such statements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: As Mr. Boucher said, we need far better management in the Central Bank and the Department of Finance but also in banks. The position would be much better if there had been no opposition to director compliance statements in 2006. Does the bank have a higher standard for directors now than duing the crisis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Bank of Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: Thank you, Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: National Postcode System: Freight Transport Association Ireland (5 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome our visitors and thank them for the publication, which is most useful. I have a couple of perspectives. The university constituencies operate on both sides of the Border and I find it is far easier for me to send a message to a constituent in Clones than it is in Newtownbutler. It is only eight or nine miles away but one must remember all the details. There is, therefore, a cost...

Seanad: Health Services: Statements (4 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and like other Senators, I heard his interview with Pat Kenny. One of the many good things in it was when he stated the sickness absentee rate among health service staff was now down to 4%, because that had been a scandal and I am glad it has been tackled. My metaphor for the health service, however, is that if I arrive in Heuston Station, I see a hospital across the...

Seanad: Health Services: Statements (4 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Mr. Boylan to the House and there are all sorts of developments in respect of pharmacy and herbalism. Let us extend-----

Seanad: Health Services: Statements (4 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: There are many ways to become healthier. Let us not stick with this current model, because it is not working and is too expensive.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Amendment) Bill 2014: First Stage (4 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: I second that.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Leader for inviting the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, for the health debate. Mr. Seán Boylan is here because he has an interest in that aspect of our wider health and medical services. Last Saturday week, Mr. Jeff Dudgeon of the Ulster Unionist Party, at a meeting of the Irish Association, called for the retention of the long wave 252 service, as Senator Mooney has done....

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2014)

Sean Barrett: I rise to express solidarity with the people and Parliament of Canada, following the invasion of the House of Parliament by a gunman yesterday. The Speaker of the Canadian Senate, Mr. Noel Kinsella, is a great friend of this country. He has called a meeting of the Senate to show terrorists that democracy will continue in his country. The Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, Mr. Andrew...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functions: National Asset Management Agency (22 Oct 2014)

Sean Barrett: NAMA has my support in that regard. I refer to question No. 24 on page 15. The sales of properties in individual lots would have required the displacement of existing tenants. The Seanad debated this matter with the former Minister, Deputy Shatter. I am not sure that tenants have no rights in those situations. NAMA would certainly be more popular if it were selling in individual terms....