Results 4,961-4,980 of 6,295 for speaker:Michael D'Arcy

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Professor McDonough states that we had a low-tax regime traceable to the repression of labour globalisation and neoliberalism. The property bubble burst in 2007. Did we have a low tax regime or did we have a too narrow tax base?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (26 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Can I ask the professor his view on taxation. He says that the tax base was reduced from 60% to 48% and subsequently the marginal rate is now 40%. Does he think we should go back to the 60% rate? I would also like his opinion about the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre which many consider a success story. I refer to the film "The Commitments" which was my memory...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Professor Connor is very welcome. He has made strong statements about insolvency. Specifically, he said that Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society were insolvent at the time of the guarantee.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: How does that statement tally with the PricewaterhouseCoopers report that was issued immediately after the guarantee?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: In terms of the special resolution regime, we know from Mr. Peter Nyberg's evidence that the Department of Finance began thinking about the resolution regime in 2007 after Northern Rock. Many of us were unaware that the Department of Finance had even considered a special resolution regime. Should that have advanced?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Mr. Nyberg stated also that the Department of Finance brought the resolution regime to the Domestic Standing Group, DSG, and other institutions did not believe that this was a good idea. Can Professor Connor comment upon his evidence that the other institutions, the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank, believed that this was not a good idea following the Norther Rock debacle?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: In page 6 of Professor Connor's statement he says that Irish bank shareholders and share markets also pressurised bank management to pursue risky strategies; there was an expectation of rapidly increasing annual earnings and dividends in the absence of which share prices suffered relative to competitors and the bank risked becoming a takeover target. When he mentions Irish bank shareholders...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: In Professor Connor's presentation he spoke about high growth economies and that the investment from the very stable deposits flowed into Ireland on the basis that Ireland had the potential to be a high growth economy. Would that have been standard or unique in terms of very stable deposits moving towards a high growth economy?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: I welcome Professor Walsh. Will he outline his view in respect of some of the really important audits that occurred during the banking crisis? I specifically refer to the PwC report presented to the Minister for Finance prior to the introduction of the bank guarantee which indicated that the potential liability to the State in respect of Anglo and INBS was €5 billion. What is...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: I will amend the question a little. Professor Walsh is a university lecturer. If he was grading PwC's analysis of the institutions involved, what grade would he award?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (25 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: What is Professor Walsh's view on the PwC report that was commissioned after the guarantee had been introduced in order to evaluate its impact on the banks?

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: I wish to raise the issue of regional development, specifically with regard to IDA Ireland. As Members know, the local authorities now have an economic development role within their jurisdictions following the Local Government Reform Act 2014. I realise it is not easy to turn a tanker quickly, but the oil tanker that is IDA Ireland has been very slow and reticent in facilitating rural...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: I thank the Chairman and thank Mr. Buti for appearing before the committee. Mr. Buti said that for the first time Article 99.4 of the treaty was used. What was the sanction for the usage of Article 99.4? Was there a sanction in relation to the Government's policy?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Was that a mistake?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: I thank Mr. Buti. Mr. Buti used the term "incomplete set of tools" on a number of occasions. In previous evidence we found out that the Department of Finance in Ireland, before the guarantee before the crisis, considered passing special resolution legislation. The reason that was not used was because it could create the concern that if the legislation was on the Statute Book, perhaps...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: Mr. Buti made the point towards the end of his submission that the "financial sector was thought to simply channel funds in an efficient manner to where the real economy needed them". Is that not a very naïve statement about the financial sector?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Michael D'Arcy: When Mr. Buti's colleague from the Commission, Mr. Nava, was before us, I asked him for his view on the three big rating agencies' performance prior to the crisis. He said it was not his sector, but Mr. Buti's.