Results 7,101-7,120 of 36,118 for speaker:Pearse Doherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Let me-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I would expect nothing less from the Minister than for him to make that comment. If I got notification that a branch was withdrawing cash services from approximately a third of its footprint in the State, 70 branches, I would say to the bank that it is not within the ordinary course of business to withdraw the cash services of a bank across vast areas throughout the State. Is the Minister...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I want to know. He could have been on the phone-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: -----on the hour every hour.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Did the Minister instruct his Department to contact him?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: What did the Minister instruct his Department to relay to the bank?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Okay. I have those documents. I have that correspondence through freedom of information requests. Was that a different conversation from the correspondence I have, which is basically an email to the bank that states the Department is starting to get some - I am paraphrasing - issues being raised by the public, and the bank then giving the Department speaking notes to answer that, including...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: That was basically when the bank gave the Department the briefing points to address some of the public anger.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Was there any time that the Department asked the bank to reconsider its position?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: In the Minister's view, is it appropriate for the Taoiseach, who is the head of the Government, to ask the bank to reconsider the decision, to look for a meeting with its officials, to reflect the anger there was for the two to three days before that-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I did not ask the Minister to direct the decision. I would not suggest that but I would expect him, on behalf of the taxpayer for whom he holds the shares, to ask the bank to reconsider the decision, which is exactly what the Taoiseach said in addition to seeking a meeting with the bank. During that period, the Minister did neither.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: It involved looking for speaking points-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: -----to answer the public outrage. I have the documents.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: We know contact happened. We have the documents.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: The Department asked for speaking points to combat the public outrage. Meanwhile, the Taoiseach said that he wanted a meeting with the bank and that he wanted it to reconsider the decision. The reason I point that out is not because I am a great fan of the Taoiseach, but to suggest that the Minister could and should have done more.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Someday the Minister might surprise me.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Big applause is due to the public because it was the public that forced that to happen, not the majority shareholder in the bank. That is the problem.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I want to ask a final question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Absolutely.