Results 7,401-7,420 of 36,355 for speaker:Pearse Doherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: None. Is Dr. Hunt aware whether the Minister for Finance or any of his officials read these board packs?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Let me put it this way; on any occasion when the board pack which goes from the bank before the board meeting takes place, has there ever been communication from the Department of Finance before the board meeting has happened in the past year?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Dr. Hunt cannot recall. Okay. Are the board packs addressed to a specific individual within the Department of Finance, or to the Minister?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Is there a key person that -----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: So, Des Carville or somebody of that nature.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: So that would be the first communication on the proposal by the bank to withdraw cash services, that would the week before the board meeting of June, yes?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: When was the first communication with the Minister or his officials that the decision was taken?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Okay. Were any issues raised at that stage, on the Friday?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: In a different guise, in a different era, Dr. Hunt was a special adviser to a former Minister for Finance, so he knows how this area works. Was he surprised at the reaction to the decision of AIB, at a political level, or did he feel that he had approval given the silence from the Minister's officials?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: So within hours of the announcement being made and the letters landing, what was Dr. Hunt's initial reaction to that? Had the bank decided at that stage that it needed to change track?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I know that the bank got it wrong, and has made the reversal, it happened within a three-day period in fairness. I am trying to figure out, with letters starting to come in straight away within hours of this announcement, when Dr. Hunt, as the CEO, or the board said "maybe the official decision was not taken but we need to change tack".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Was it on the third day, the second day, was it within the first 24 hours?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Does Dr. Hunt have any idea what the Government reaction was to the letters it received in regard to this, in particular the Minister for Finance?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I was one of the politicians who contacted AIB to ask it to reverse the decision.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Did the Minister for Finance contact the bank?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: We see from the freedom of information, FOI, releases that the day after the announcement, which, as Dr. Hunt said, was the day the bank was starting to make the decision to change track, the Department reached out looking for speaking points. Was it not the case that the bank answered some of the concerns it was getting?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Okay, and AIB provided speaking points stating it was an arm's length commercial decision and access to cash services would be through the post office and so on, all the stuff that was in the press release. If that was the conversation with the Department of Finance on the day Dr. Hunt says the board started to change-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Yes. Is that the communication that was taking place with the Department? Was the Department in any way in tune? It is hard to understand this because we have a Department and a Minister who, based on all the written records, did not raise an issue with AIB. The Minister was aware, or at least his officials were, before the board made the decision that this change, which caused uproar,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: Is Dr. Hunt concerned that he leads an organisation with a board that is so out of touch with his customers' opinion that it was forced within three days into a massive U-turn that made international headlines and was completely unaware of the insensitive decision that it took? This was days after the bank was given the largest ever fine for the shenanigans that went on in it with the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Discussion (14 Sep 2022)
Pearse Doherty: I will get on to other questions in a moment. We can see the indicators for AIB regarding what is being achieved in terms of profitability and market share. That is very important and the board and Dr. Hunt are driving all of that. However, we have heard from Dr. Hunt's predecessors. We have been in these rooms or rooms similar to these during the tracker mortgage scandal, which I will...