Results 461-480 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay, let me ask you a broader question then, Tánaiste. When we take the prevailing ethos of the period 2000 up to 2007, when some would say, the entire establishment - from the financial markets to the media to the established political parties, or the majority of the Oireachtas, say - were saturated with an ethos that provided for maximisation of profit, maximisation of deregulation...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. That ... I understand that. Let me return to 2003 and the Bill that Deputy Gilmore introduced into the Dáil called the Planning and Development (Acquisition of Development Land) (Assessment of Compensation) Bill 2003 and it related to concern at the speculation and profiteering, perhaps, some would say, that was manifest in the area of building land. Why didn't you introduce...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: And, Tánaiste, to quote from your statement on a separate issue: "The property bubble was squeezing the living standards of ordinary people and loading them with an unsustainable debt burden while simultaneously enriching wealthy individuals and companies who availed of a huge range of property based tax shelters." One of the tax shelters, or lessening of tax was introduced by the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Tánaiste, we had a witness here, Mr. Derek Quinlan, who put together syndicates of wealthy individuals and, among other things, bought land, kept it for a while, got planning permission and then sold it on at massive profit. One instance was a €53 million profit for a syndicate. The effect of that capital gains reduction was, in round figures, a tax of €20 million on...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes. Mr. O'Reilly, you're aware of David McWilliams, broadcaster and economic commentator, I take it?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: McWilliams, yes. He gave evidence to this inquiry and in the course of the evidence, he played a statement that he had made in October 2003 on RTE "Prime Time". And I'd like to quote it to you and ask you for a comment on it. He said: The Irish housing market is a scam. It is an enormous financial swindle that could potentially confine an entire generation of young Irish workers to years...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: This-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. O'Reilly, this statement was made in 2003. This wasn't made with the benefit of hindsight when many people became wise. So there was still four or five years to go of the property bubble. It wasn't probably just a third of the way up at the time.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Did developers like yourself not consider at that stage where things were going? And did it give you pause for thought?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Is it a just system or was it, Mr. O'Reilly, that this combination of bankers and developers, between you, would see the price of an ordinary home between 1996 and 2006, on figures given to this inquiry, increase each year by the equivalent of the average industrial wage? That's each year. Is that, apart from the sustainability or lack of sustainability, is it just that young, working...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: And, Mr. O'Reilly, the ... at the end of the day, when the bubble crashed, there are many figures that, in the media, would be said to be dramatic. One was that in March 2009, the top 13 debtors owed Anglo €14 billion and the total bailout cost, €64 billion, by a few hundred people, and you would have been among the top people in that. Is it right that a few private...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: But, Mr. O'Reilly, with respect, I mean, you said in your statement "[We are the] most successful residential property developers". With €2.8 billion debts going into NAMA, are you in denial?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: About the reality of what bankers in association with the developers ... the state they have left this economy and people in. And you refer to yourself-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes, but I'm-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: -----querying that Mr. O'Reilly describes in page 2 of his statement, "[the] most successful residential property developers."

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Well, anyway, it's words to that effect. We ... I haven't time, but it's-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: Sorry, I've lost my-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: I'll ... I'll ... I'll send it up to you before the end, Chair-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: -----because-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joe Higgins: -----to ensure that it is there. Yes. Mr. O'Reilly, because of ... time is ... is nearly up, are you ... now, you said you borrowed not from the taxpayer, from private banks.