Results 26,561-26,580 of 35,959 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

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

Pearse Doherty: The specific question was whether the Office of the Financial Regulator was fit for purpose. I take it the witness is not going to go down that road, which is fair enough.

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

Pearse Doherty: The Nyberg commission did not have access to recordings in the treasury rooms of the various banks. We have just come through an experience here where investigators of an institution gave it a clean bill of health but it was found that the institution was far from deserving it. This was discovered because of secret recordings, with the management unaware it was being recorded. We know in...

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

Pearse Doherty: Just a couple of questions and hopefully, like Senator MacSharry's, they will be "Yes" or "No". There has been a lot of discussion on external factors - efficient markets and all the rest - but can Mr. Nyberg confirm to the committee that it is his view that the Irish crisis was essentially home grown?

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

Pearse Doherty: Regarding the co-operation Mr. Nyberg received, he mentioned in his report that access to relevant documents or interviews was not fully unproblematic. A small minority of these organisations and individuals chose to be represented by lawyers. His report goes on to make a recommendation. Could he inform the committee of the organisations he felt were not as co-operative, as is suggested by...

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

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Nyberg got the information in the end. He mentioned Mr. Wright, who will be before the committee tomorrow. He made a clear finding in his own report concerning the fitness for purpose - or not - of the Department of Finance. In his report, Mr. Nyberg made several criticisms relating to the office of the financial regulator and the weaknesses and deficiencies there. Does he believe...

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

Pearse Doherty: Following on from that point, Mr. Nyberg flows on from that statement in his report and goes on to state that "The Commission ... has reluctantly come to the conclusion that at least some of the financial market professionals at the time must have entertained private, undisclosed doubts on the sustainability of banks' lending and funding policies." Did Mr. Nyberg come across any evidence to...

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

Pearse Doherty: Going back to the six points Mr. Nyberg mentioned for a systemic crisis to occur, he also mentioned that it requires a government and a central bank that remain unaware of the mounting problems or that are unwilling to do anything to prevent them. His report examines the role of the Central Bank in great detail and also that of the Department of Finance but it is silent on the Government's...

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

Pearse Doherty: I want to move on to what Mr. Nyberg has called the real reason for the crisis. Page 100 of the his report states, "the real reason for the crisis is the spread of an ultimately irrational point of view". He makes this point with reference to the widespread belief in the model of efficient, self-regulating financial markets which he mentioned in his opening statement but he goes on to state...

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

Pearse Doherty: As I said, it was very helpful of Mr. Nyberg to set out the six factors that are essential for a systemic financial crisis to occur. My question is whether, if households had no problems servicing their debts, we still would have had a systemic crisis given the concentration of lending on a small number of borrowers. There were 190 borrowers owing €62 billion between them. Some 50%...

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

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Nyberg's report mentions that lending accelerated sharply at Anglo Irish Bank from 2005 onward. What, in his view, were the reasons for that sharp increase in lending?

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

Pearse Doherty: I will move on to the main issues set out in the document Mr. Nyberg has presented. He has helpfully set out eight bullet points, six of which are conditions that are necessary for a systemic financial crisis to occur. The first factor is that there must be "a sufficiently large number of households and investors who, at some point, start making serious mistakes in judging the value and...

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

Pearse Doherty: I ask this because, on page 79 of his report, Mr. Nyberg notes that if the authorities or the Government had wished to avoid immediately providing a broad guarantee, some of the funding options - which he had mentioned above - were available, although perhaps not easily, through buying time, even until the following weekend, and this would not have been an idle exercise. He mentioned that...

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

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that. The point I am trying to get to is the six covered institutions entered into a guaranteed acceptance deed on 24 October, which is about three and a half weeks between the announcement of the guarantee and the guarantee itself. Mr. Nyberg mentioned that buying time - a weekend or a number of days - would not have been an idle exercise. The announcement of the guarantee...

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

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh an tUasal Nyberg go dtí an coiste fiosrúcháin seo. I wish to pick up on the point the Chairman mentioned on that point in time in terms of the guarantee that was provided to banks at the end of September. Can Mr. Nyberg inform the committee from the work the commission has done when was the point that the State took on, legally, the liabilities of the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Carer's Allowance Applications (17 Dec 2014)

Pearse Doherty: 28. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when a person (details supplied) in County Donegal will receive a date for an oral hearing regarding a claim for carer's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48504/14]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (17 Dec 2014)

Pearse Doherty: 41. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a breakdown in tabular form over the past five years of the number of persons in receipt of rent supplement by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48665/14]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (17 Dec 2014)

Pearse Doherty: 42. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a breakdown by location of the current waiting times for an appointment with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service; the number of staff in each branch over the past five years; the number of full-time staff who have been recruited to the service over the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48667/14]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Dec 2014)

Pearse Doherty: 55. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the UK Chancellor who has announced measures to provide a VAT exemption for mountain rescue teams; his plans to introduce a similar measure in this State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48661/14]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (17 Dec 2014)

Pearse Doherty: 59. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason an overpayment occurred in relation to a pension and gratuity in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48502/14]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Disadvantaged Areas Scheme Payments (17 Dec 2014)

Pearse Doherty: 79. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Donegal has not received their disadvantaged area payment or their single farm payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48503/14]