Results 44,841-44,860 of 51,089 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (22 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: As I have said on many occasions in this House, most recently on 24 March, I remain deeply concerned about the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka and in particular about the grave humanitarian situation there. Thanks to the efforts of the UN Secretary General and the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, the Government of Sri Lanka announced a two-day ceasefire on 12 April. While...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: I wish to share time with the Minister, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, and Deputy Cyprian Brady. I ask the Acting Chairman to interrupt me at ten minutes to allow time for the others. The primary rationale behind this budget was to demonstrate both domestically and to international markets that Ireland has the capacity to deal from within with its own budgetary difficulties and challenges and to...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: There is a global crisis of unprecedented proportions. We are talking about the worst economic depression worldwide since 1929. It is worth going back to look at what happened in 1929. Thankfully, this time the world powers are working collectively to deal with the crisis. That is something that did not happen back then, but with the co-operation of all states it may lead to a shortened...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: The progress we have made in the area of wind energy, for example, has been quite dramatic in a short space of time and will be even more dramatic in the coming decade.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: We are committed to this, and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his Department are leading the charge on alternative approaches to energy as well as the broader agenda. We are quite focused in this regard. We have built up a strong cohort of indigenous companies and we need to protect them and enable them to survive in the global downturn,...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: I will come back to the banks shortly. That was an example of how we used the funding and the wealth we created wisely. That is never acknowledged. We created a pension fund to which we allocated 1% of GNP. If we did not have that pension fund we would not have been in a position to recapitalise the banks, for example, or take further measures. In addition, we have transformed the...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: We did many effective things that transformed the country and improved it considerably. This will help us deal with the significant difficulties we have now.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: People have talked about the budget and its impact on enterprise and so on. I will explain why we put forward the banking proposal. By the way, we are not talking about a toxic bank. It is an asset management agency.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: Banks take deposits from the public. They have banking licences. This agency will not be taking deposits. It is not a bank but an asset management agency.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: The Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party, in previous policy incarnations, called for radical change in the banking system.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: Fine Gael called for the creation of good banks and bad banks.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: Indeed, a bad bank-good bank scenario.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: I ask the Deputy to stop interrupting.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: In a policy statement, Fine Gael called for an examination of creative alternatives to recapitalisation which, it argued, might offer a better chance of success and greater protection to the taxpayer. Fine Gael went on to propose the creation of "brand new good banks with clean balance sheets" and so on. Meanwhile, the Labour Party has argued that we must get credit flowing to business,...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: What the Minister announced yesterday amounts to a creative and radical proposal. It has nothing to do with saving banks or developers. That is an outrageous political slant to put on this debate.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: It is disreputable for Opposition Members to put forward that claim. They are doing so for base political reasons. Their innuendoes are disgraceful.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: It is not in the best interests of the country to put forward this false and dishonest presentation of the proposal. Business people know that credit is not flowing to business.

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: The reason for this is the overhang of bad debts. What we are proposing is a creative solution to take out that bad debt and develop clean banks that can begin once more to lend to the economy. If lending is not flowing to the economy, we will not have jobs and we will not have the facility for people to create jobs and develop the economy. Innovative companies need investment in order to...

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: The Minister has said that if the scheme does not make a profit in the next decade-----

Financial Resolution No. 11: General (Resumed) (8 Apr 2009)

Micheál Martin: -----then the banks will be levied to ensure the taxpayer is protected. A similar model was successfully implemented in Sweden in the early 1990s. I urge the Opposition to cease resorting to base political innuendo in regard to this proposal. I welcome any contribution to genuine political debate but Opposition Members should avoid the temptation, which is clearly evident, to drag in other...