Results 33,721-33,740 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: We asked to move on to this amendment.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: The Minister of State has come into this debate for 20 minutesââ
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: No, the Minister of State is not entitled to it. We are on the next amendment.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: Deputy Power is playing out time. The Ceann Comhairle is a former footballer and is well aware of this tactic.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: Regarding these amendments on whistleblowing, I am pleased that the Minister is prepared to examine this issue again. When the Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, came into the House this morning he was not prepared to accept further amendments. This was to be the final stage. Is the Minister now happy to have the Bill go back to the Seanad and come back to this House one more time?
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: If the Minister were minded to accept amendments he should have told us so this morning. It is a pity that we do not have time to sort out the mess on whistleblowing and false statements. Correctly, a whistleblowing amendment has been included and there is also an amendment on making false statements. However, under section 221(5) if an officer, director, or employee of NAMA, and...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: We have to have proportionality in legislation and there is no proportionality in that. The individual junior clerk in the NAMA edifice who innocently receives and opens an e-mail which asks for a good price for a bit of land will be guilty of an offence.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: If one receives an e-mail it is an e-mail; it is an actual communication whether or not one believes its content.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: We also have whistleblowing legislation.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: I will but I want to clarify whether the Minister is prepared to consider this related group of amendments which are highly contradictory and in contention with each other. Why is there a provision on false statements when we already have the provision in section 221? This is like religious zealotry; it goes too far, is too complicated and will end up being able to do nothing to address...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: I am happy to support Deputy O'Donnell's amendment No. 1 to Seanad amendment No. 9. We have argued at great length that a vetting procedure should be provided for, preferably through an Oireachtas committee. The obvious candidates would be the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service and the Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs, although it may be possible in certain...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: This is one of the most critical sections of the Bill because it is through this mechanism that the amounts NAMA will pay for certain loans, assets and so on can be jacked up to any number one might think of given that the two valuation principles are economic value and long-term economic value. I listened to Deputy Mulcahy say how much he expected property values to rise and rise. There...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: The powers provided to the Minister regarding the valuations and the valuation panel are seriously excessive and they constitute a significant threat that NAMA will overpay for assets. I was struck by the many contributions Deputy Fahey made on various Stages in which he expressed supreme confidence that the value of assets held in the US and the UK, for example, would increase rapidly. His...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: Section 12(2)(ac) makes provision for carrying on "any business that NAMA considers can be conveniently carried on in connection with any of its functions or is calculated directly or indirectly to enhance the value of or facilitate the realisation of or render profitable any of NAMA's property or rights". The Peter Bacon report on hotels found that up to 20,000 hotel rooms should be closed....
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: No, the Acting Chairman should peruse paragraph (ac).
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: The amendment pertains to paragraph (ac).
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: No, it is not. As Deputies Gogarty and Cuffe have indicated, it ties in the approach advocated by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. What is the position on proper planning and development in respect of surplus hotels and private medical institutions which were constructed on the basis of tax breaks rather than medical considerations? The National Treatment...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: I am not sure that is a compliment.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: I ask the Minister to respond to the issues I raised regarding paragraph (ac), including the ability to carry on business and whether there has been any advance on the draft plan. These are important matters.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)
Joan Burton: A finance committee was not included in the original structure. The National Asset Management Agency will have to operate on commercial business grounds. Given that finance and budgetary plans are the core of a business, it would be highly unusual not to have the full board involved in these areas. Audit, credit and risk management have specific, defined functions in banking. However,...