Results 8,201-8,220 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: On a point of order, has amendment No. 67 been disposed of?

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Was the amendment agreed?

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I appreciate that.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I move amendment No. 73: In page 145, line 41, to delete "shall" and insert "may". This amendment relates to the issue we have just been discussing in part 8 of the Schedule to which the Minister referred. I understand and agree with the rationale for what is being proposed in the round. It may be, however, that I have not followed the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill as closely...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: The very last thing of which I would accuse Senator O'Toole would be copping out of this discussion because he has been closely involved in it throughout. The consequence of what he is saying, however, risks a cop-out from the issue we are trying to address. I do not believe the argument he has made wins through in the end for the following reasons. This discussion is raging all over the...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Do we all have to make our confessions this morning?

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: It should be done on the Order of Business as well.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Senator Hanafin keeps making that call and I do not know whether to laugh or cry when I hear it. I am sure the Government will at some stage come forward with its proposals because, of course, it is running the country. Let us see what it has to propose and we will then have to make a response. Let the Senator be assured that we will do so. In respect of the NAMA legislation, to which we...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: In so far as it was suggested by Senator O'Toole that support for the NAMA project was consistent with social democracy-----

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: If the Senator was listening to me, I said: "In so far as it was suggested".

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Following up on the position taken by Senator Fitzgerald and the Fine Gael Party, it was described as Christian democracy, but they then said one should turn to social democracy. Social democracy is a vision of society to which I very much adhere but the NAMA project is not part of it.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: The Senator makes it very clear.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Nov 2009)

Alex White: The last point might be the most telling. It suggests the provision is there to send a reassuring signal to the European Commission. Senator O'Toole is correct. It reads as something that should go without saying. How could it be otherwise? Senator O'Toole is not saying it should be removed so the Minister could approve a restructuring plan that did not comply with the law, and the...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Before we were helpfully interrupted before lunch, I was responding to a reasonable point Senator Norris had made about scrutiny and oversight. He was so impressed by the Minister's performance last night that he found it reassuring, although I am not suggesting he thought that satisfied the point. That is fair enough but oversight and scrutiny are not a sign of a Minister's performance....

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Steady on.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I profoundly disagree with the Minister's characterisation of what oversight entails and of his perception of the role of NAMA in satisfying a requirement in respect of oversight. I will comment on that matter in a moment but I wish first to refer to some of the issues raised by other Senators. I am not sure if I spoke earlier on the two other amendments in this group that were tabled in my...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I am saying this in all fairness. I am not criticising the Minister for the Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Ryan, in that regard. What I am saying is that if the Government has a debate, the Minister can stand up-----

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I do not understand. What I said was not meant as a criticism of anybody.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Exactly. What is hilarious about the Minister's position on nationalisation is that when he is pressed he says: "No, we could not have nationalisation, for all the reasons that Mr. Ahern has given in The Irish Times". However, when he is pressed and wants to argue he says: "Sure we already have it or nearly have it". Which is it? The Minister either thinks it is a good idea or he does...

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I move amendment No. 1: In page 16, before section 2, to insert the following new section: 2.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, "the Oversight Committee" shall mean a committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or a sub-committee thereof so enjoined and appointed by a Resolution of the Houses, consisting of specified persons not being members of the Houses of the Oireachtas to report to the...