Results 3,041-3,060 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Does Mr. Wallace realise that many of these institutions have zilch credibility among ordinary people? PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, were the accountants for GAMA Construction Ireland Ltd. and were forced to resign when we exposed a massive worker exploitation scandal to which they had turned a blind eye. What faith can the mortgage holders in IBRC have in these insiders in this process?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: In the same way as Irish Water tendered, it is an inside track along the line. The Minister told us that contractual terms will not change for the mortgage holders. Does Mr. Wallace agree with that?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: What can change for the 12,700 mortgage holders under the new owners of their mortgages?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Can the new owners increase interest rates?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: To maximise their gamble, which is what these people do, they can increase interest rates at will on their mortgage clients.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Does the witness accept that mortgage holders in difficulties or in a difficult arrears situation can come under enormous pressure from these vulture capitalists?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: What type of assurance is that for the future?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: I know some dogs that are very nice because I know them, but if a new dog arrives on the block, it might be quite vicious. How can Mr. Wallace say that they will not act in a brutal fashion in pressuring people with arrears out of their homes, if it suits them?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: However, the witness can give no assurance in regard to how these entities will act to the mortgage holders who are now under much stress as to what is coming down the line.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: That is no guarantee of future performance.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: We hold the Minister for Finance and the Government primarily responsible for this mess and all that is involved here, but did Mr. Wallace or Mr. Richardson at any stage consider the option of maintaining those mortgages in forms of State ownership to protect mortgage holders, reassure them and allow them to continue to live in peace on reasonable terms?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Is it not amazing? The witnesses are so fused with the ethos of the capitalist marketplace they cannot even consider such an option.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: The way liquidation works in this State, and often the way liquidators act, often constitutes the most ugly face of capitalism. I understand the liquidators are operating for a political boss or master in the form of the Minister for Finance but I am not surprised they are therefore throwing vulnerable home owners to the wolves. That is often done with workers, for example, when companies...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: When will that be disclosed?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Is that when the sale is completed?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Is that not an incredible position? Even a slave in ancient Rome knew who was bidding to take him or her into bondage and if the slave was shifted from one master to another, he or she might know to where they were going. Is even that courtesy not being afforded to the more than 13,000 partners or families now experiencing this stress? Is that acceptable?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Why can we not be told all the bidders?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: When I was a young fellow at the Dingle fair we brought in the cows and several jobbers bid for them. We knew who they were. What is the difference and why would naming the parties be anti-competitive?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: Do the witnesses realise the arrogance of their position in dealing with Irish citizens in this way? They will not give elected representatives the most basic knowledge. Are the parties involved international vulture capitalists, or venture funds, as the witnesses might call them?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Sale of IBRC Mortgage Loan Book: Discussion (26 Feb 2014)
Joe Higgins: I am asking a new question. What is the nature of the bidders? Are they based in Ireland or outside the country?