Results 2,821-2,840 of 11,861 for speaker:Brian Hayes

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: This issue was dealt with on Committee Stage in the other House. Article 28 of the treaty states an internal audit function shall be established according to international standards. That is pro forma, as Senator Thomas Byrne stated. Article 29 refers to an external audit. It is clear in the legislation we are adopting that the accounts of the ESM shall be audited by an independent...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: If people wish to oppose this measure, they must put forward an alternative. It appears the only alternative is a default position where one effectively defaults on the commitments one has made. In our case, the consequence of owning the main banks, apart from Bank of Ireland which is in 50% State ownership, is that their liabilities and assets belong to the State. One may agree or...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: They take their bank accounts and get out. Who is left? It is the person in receipt of unemployment benefit, the carer and the pensioner who will see their living standards slashed repeatedly. If Members oppose section 2 because they say they have an alternative, I want to hear what it is. I want to hear about circumstances in which Ireland can gain access to money at a rate of 3%. No...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: Everyone. As I understand it, some of the credit unions in this country are included among those dreadful people, the bondholders.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: I will conclude on this point.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: I will conclude by noting that this mechanism, through section 2, allows Ireland access to that emergency fund, if needed, which I hope it will not. Second, it gives Ireland additional confidence in trying to get back into the markets, an objective with which everyone agrees. It is welcome that Sinn Féin wants Ireland to return to the bond markets. It did not want us there before the...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: If that can happen, Ireland will be in a much better place. In accepting section 2 Members are accepting that while Ireland may need this fund, more importantly, it is in place as a substantial backstop towards the support the country will need in the future.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: It is in the manifesto.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: One does not pay into it.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: They think they will not get their money back.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: I am not sure I have an awful lot more to add. I very much agree with Senator Gilroy's comments. Section 3 follows section 2 as night follows day, and the House has divided on section 2 already. I am not convinced about Senator Cullinane's view that some kind of quantitative easing in the ECB would solve our problem. The reason wealth is behind a currency is that it provides a guarantee....

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: The bigger the house, the more one must pay.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: I heard the Senator's remarks yesterday on Second Stage. He basically put forward the proposition that the better way of doing it is for the direct recapitalisation of the banking system through the European authorities. I do not fundamentally disagree. I would wish that to be the case. The Taoiseach made a remark that appeared this morning on the front page of The Irish Times agreeing...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: Yes.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: That is not very helpful.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: When we get to that section, the Senator can raise the issue.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: We are on section 2 at the moment.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: The rest of Europe will wait for the Senator.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: It will be €1.27 billion between now and 2014 in five tranches of €254 million each twice this year, twice next year and once in the first six months of 2014.

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jun 2012)

Brian Hayes: This is a public debate on the issues we face. We need more of this. I want to take up one of the points raised by Senator Michael D'Arcy on the question of the national debt and speak honestly about what the national debt is. The last time I asked the Department of Finance how much we owe as a country, from recollection it is about €186 billion, and about 23% of that relates to the...