Results 33,741-33,760 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. It is intriguing that someone who was one of the architects of social partnership and would have great expertise in social partnership participation in various public boards would have made this proposal. From the material I have read about FÁS, one of its downfalls is that matters were shoved into sub-committees and because its executive was so...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: With regard to applications for designation of assets of participating institutions, amendment No. 7 states this will be done "in accordance with any applicable law" while amendment No. 8 states it will be done "subject to any prohibition in any applicable law". Under the legislation, Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society will transfer...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: These banks will be processed first.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: The top ten to 15 developers listed in the Minister's draft NAMA management plan will be dealt with in the first 30 days and, therefore, possibly by Christmas. According to everything I have heard about Anglo Irish Bank, the top ten to 15 developers were heavily supported by this bank. Is that not so? I do not say the other institutions are not also involved with these developers but Anglo...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: Not only are Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide going into the NAMA process but there is also discussion in the media, and this is permissible under the Bill, about the possibility of institutions such as Ulster Bank having assets up to €15 billion parked in some kind of quarantine process which may, at some stage, enter the NAMA process. Given that Ulster Bank is owned by Royal Bank of...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: Technical amendments are fierce important at this stage. Let me tell the Minister that.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: May I continue the point? We are not talking about ordinary law. We are talking about banking and international global banking systems which have crashed, to the detriment of millions of ordinary people throughout the world. We are not talking about ordinary law but about banking institutions which have used their might and main to have part of their transactions and part of their...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: No. The Minister should read French literature in some detail. People at the G20 recognised that the availability of offshore mechanisms and tax havens have rendered the supervision and regulation of banking, in this country and throughout the world, very difficult. Why is the Minister giving specific recognition to prohibition in any applicable law without being able to tell us if he, his...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: It is very relevant.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: Section 62 is about applications for designation as a participating institution and section 63 is about the effect of application for designation. These are two very powerful sections because they give the banks, the credit institutions in the one year guarantee scheme, and Irish-owned subsidiaries of foreign banks the right to apply. Section 63 states: "By making an application under this...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: That was a Labour Party amendment.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: I thank the Deputy for his kind comments.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: I am glad we got the Minister to do some work.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: I can only conclude that the Minister is being deliberately oblique in his reply. There is a very significant difference between where a physical asset or land bank is located and where the company or the entity that owns that land bank may be located for tax and administrative purposes. One of the reasons President Obama, following his election, was so intent on the point is that in the...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: Does the Minister not remember Ansbacher?

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: Has the Minister wiped the Fianna Fáil memory disk clean of what took place in respect of the Ansbacher accounts? Those loans were off-shore but all the money was in Dublin and Ireland, circulating to the Fianna Fáil head honchos, who had their own little scheme. That was disclosed by numerous tribunals and inquiries. It is a real Fianna Fáil trick to pretend they never heard of this...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: I welcome the amendment and the comments of Deputy Gogarty because this amendment was put forward by the Labour Party to provide a context in which proper planning and development could inform any decisions of NAMA and be taken into account. In practice it will be very difficult to realise because it will be genuinely difficult to achieve proper planning and development in the aftermath of...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: It is more than that. When one visits a hotel——

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: The former President, Ms Mary Robinson, and President McAleese feature to some degree. However, that is in the ha'penny place compared to the glowing photos of such people as Deputy Bertie Ahern.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: From the Seanad (12 Nov 2009)

Joan Burton: The point is proper planning and development did not apply in respect to may of these hotels. Some hotels have been in the country for generations and families work in these hotels. There are very fine hotels but some of them are under very serious threat. More and more hotels were built, driven by the tax breaks, to the extent where there is now a very significant surplus of hotel rooms....