Results 7,081-7,100 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: Budget 2019: Statements (9 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: When is it proposed to sit again?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I would like to welcome to the Public Gallery Mr. Paddy Homan and some of his colleagues, friends of Senator Lawless who are here from Chicago. They are all very welcome to Ireland. I hope they are having a nice time here.

Seanad: Message from Dáil (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: Dáil Éireann has passed, on 3 October 2018, the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 considered by virtue of Article 20.2.2° of the Constitution as a Bill initiated in Dáil Éireann, to which the agreement of Seanad Éireann is desired.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Governor, Mr. Sibley and Ms Rowland for their opening statements and for the 51-page report, which I read in great detail. We have touched on parts of it but there is much more of it we have not got to yet. Even though we have been questioning the witnesses for two hours, there is quite a lot of it we have not been able to reach as yet. It is important, however, that I touch on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I do not want to prejudice any legal cases but is it possible that it could be discovered that the banks were talking to each other? They were in huge trouble in terms of their profitability. Massive losses were being created. They were looking at any way to claw back some level of profitability or reduce losses. Were they talking to each other? It is amazing that all of them did more or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: They were breaking rules, breaking their own customers' contracts and interpreting them in a way they should not have been interpreting them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I want to put on record - and I may have done it previously in the context of individual banks - that in terms of the idea tracker mortgages cost the banks €1 billion, €580 million or whatever, they were giving the bulk of that money back to people who should never have had it taken from them in the first instance.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: That is not really a cost. If they had not been caught, effectively, it would have been extra profits they should never have earned. In the context of the idea that there was a huge cost, there is a compliance cost and an element of compensation, which is an additional cost, and an element of administrative burden, which in some cases is quite significant. However, a significant proportion...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: The report states that it has cost the banks €1 billion. We should not be talking in that way. It has given rise to a compliance cost for the banks and the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: That parks the issue, but I thank Professor Lane for acknowledging the position. The report points out that however bad everything was, the position now is certainly better than previously. That is blatantly obvious. Ten years after the guarantee and almost eight years since the bailout, it should be. However, the tendency towards firefighting and going back to the old ways remains. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: On will happen in the long term and the short term, it is fair to say that in the past a lot of performance bonuses, incentives and rewards were based on the amounts of money lent, rather than on the amounts the banks got back. Banks lent money all over the place to enable people to buy fields in counties Wicklow, Meath and Kildare in the hope they would be rezoned and that all kinds of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: If the person has retired, can it be clawed back from his or her pension? How does it work?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: There is a reference in the report to over-optimism and banks stating: "Look at where we came from, are we not fantastic?" I get the impression from the representatives of various banks who come before the committee that there is a certain lack of humility. Okay, some of the management teams are different and there are new people there who I suppose have to try to sell themselves as best...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: That is referenced in the report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: That was actually my next point. I had written it down. I was going to ask about the level of diversity and inclusion because we have been here for more than two hours and, although it is quite a big chapter in the report, nobody has mentioned it. One would expect to have quite a number of bankers and accountants in a bank. I declare that I happen to be an accountant. Obviously, gender...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: On a related and final matter regarding the culture and diversity, there is the issue of the banks wanting the Government to release the cap on senior pay. Most people argue €500,000 is a lot of money, but obviously the people in question think it is not enough and that they are losing staff by mid-teen percentages, as was referenced by AIB. What are Mr. Sibley's thoughts on that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Behaviour and Culture of the Irish Retail Banks Report: Central Bank of Ireland (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: Is Mr. Sibley suggesting that if the cap is not removed, there will be fewer good staff and that the performance will not be as good?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with the Central Bank (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I apologise, but I had arranged several meetings and there was also a vote in the Seanad.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with the Central Bank (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I did prioritise it for almost all of the day and was here for much of it, as the Chairman knows. There are only the two of us left. I apologise if I raise anything that has been covered, in which case I can read the transcript. Last week a report was published on the categorisation of non-performing loans, on which Mr. Charlie Weston wrote a piece. I do not know if anyone else has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Sector: Quarterly Engagement with the Central Bank (4 Oct 2018)

Gerry Horkan: I apologise for cutting across Professor Lane, but the macro picture where we say the figure for PTSB, or whoever else, is 28%, when it ought to be on 4% or 5%-----