Results 32,881-32,900 of 33,392 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: My point relates to the amendment. Section 130 states: A participating institution that fails to comply with any obligation under this Act is liable to NAMA and any NAMA group entity concerned in damages in addition to any other consequence of the failure under this Act. The section provides clear guidance with regard to what will be the relationship between NAMA and participating...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: I must respond to one of the points made by the Minister and believe I have noted it correctly. He has said that in Ireland the role of Ministers is to make decisions, make appointments and be accountable for them. Is he joking? Look at the track record in setting up such organisations. The modus operandi of the Government is that when there is a big challenge before it or a big job that...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: Senator Bacik spoke about the difficulties involved when a bank influences the work culture of an organisation. This highlighted to me the practical difficulty of nationalising our banking system or chunks of it. The idea that an elected Government would get involved in determining the work culture of an organisation that has been nationalised is just a step too far. We have enough on our...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: I wonder why.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: Very new Labour.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to make two brief points. In regard to Government Senators and the need to make use of the current committee system, the Labour and Fine Gael amendments make it clear the powers of the proposed committee or sub-committee would be different to that of the existing committee structure. These proposals seek to confer upon a new committee a set of powers that existing committees do not...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: While it exists, we are of it.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not so sure of that.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: I have three questions for the Leader. The first picks up on a point that Senator Buttimer made about the statement by the Irish Banking Federation. I acknowledge the statement, but I certainly do not welcome it. Let us be very clear what the people whom this organisation represents have got from the Irish taxpayer. They have got a €54 billion injection into their balance sheets, as we...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: This is just the start of what we need to develop as regards a banking system that is capable of dealing with the next earthquake on the way, namely, the amount of household and corporate debt in the country. I believe we are underplaying our hand and not dealing with this well in welcoming what is a statement of intent from an organisation whose members have received unprecedented support...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: That sounds like Senator Cassidy's Government.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: No, it is not.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: Has Senator Leyden looked at his own party's business plan?

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: Senator Leyden would know all about that.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: That was an absolutely extraordinary way to end a contribution on NAMA. Suddenly, it is all the Opposition's fault, a party that has not been in government for the past 17 years, for the setting up of the HSE and all its attendant waste. What I do agree with Senator Hanafin on is that this is a historic debate and legislation. No matter how long one spends in politics, one asks the...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: The issue is how we create a banking environment and structure so we never end up with an interest, particularly the banking sector, becoming so powerful it can challenge the democratic institutions of our State. It is so powerful that the democratic institutions of this State have no choice but to weigh in behind it, do all they can to support it and take extraordinary gambles on its...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: We did.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: It was all going so well.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Nov 2009)

Paschal Donohoe: I am struck by the number of my colleagues who have referred to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and have called for a debate on particular aspects of that. The history of that period merits a brief examination for a simple reason, namely, the fact that the so-called shock therapy that was visited upon many of the countries that left the Soviet way of managing the economy...