Results 8,701-8,720 of 16,492 for speaker:Ciarán Lynch

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: What does the Senator mean by "pushing the red button"? What does that mean?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Thank you Mr. Wright. I now propose that we suspend for 15 minutes and resume at 11.15 a.m.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Senator O’Keeffe should ask her final question.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: To summarise Mr. Wright's response, the graph in page 22, which the public might not be looking at, shows a clear distinction between the position advocated in June by Department of Finance officials and the decision taken later in the year by Government in terms of implementing the budget. There is a consistent situation whereby the advice and what happens are quite different.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Mr. Wright wrote the reports.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Before calling Deputy John Paul Phelan, I have a question. Mr. Wright mentioned the construction of the Department of Finance. Did Mr. Wright confirm in his report that more people worked in the press office than there were senior economists in the Department of Finance at the time? Were there more spin doctors than economists in the Department?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Those were the guidelines when Mr. Wright was invited to do his report and not before the committee. It is a section of the Act.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I ask Mr. Wright to clarify. He was a public servant and not a politician in the administration.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: That would be his job and he will come before the inquiry as well.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Thank you very much, Mr. Wright. I just noted in our opening statement that you made a suggestion that you might be able to provide this committee with some questions that we might raise with the Department of Finance. You might give us an indication as to some areas with which we might deal with it. I will return to that at the end of today's session, when we have completed proceedings,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Thank you. In your opening statement, Mr. Wright, you say that in the 1990s, the economy would appear to have been structured in a way from a fiscal base to be more sound than what it was when it progressed into the 2000s. Also, in your opening statement, you said that because of Ireland being part of the eurozone, we did not have control over our interest rates. Can you explain the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: That brings me on to my final question, and regardless of whether the banking crisis ever happened. When the Irish economy came to that sudden stop, there was a deficit of about €30 billion in tax revenue coming in to meet the daily outgoings of running the country on a day-to-day basis which meant the Irish nation was short €30 billion to manage its house, and that was because...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I thank Mr. Wright. I shall deal with some broader aspects of his report before inviting Senator Barrett and Deputy John Paul Phelan, as lead questioners this morning, to commence. Mr. Wright reached a conclusion on page 36 of his report that he does not accept the notion that the Department is not fit for purpose. However, the report made 50 recommendations in all, many of which with...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: Define what "pro-cyclical-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: In layman's terms, define what "pro-cyclical fiscal policy" means for people who may be viewing the hearings this morning.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: And I come from Cork, which probably makes me even harder to understand. The term "pro-cyclical fiscal policy" arises a number of times in the report. In layman's terms and because people are viewing these proceedings, could Mr. Wright explain what it means?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I call the meeting into public session. The agenda today is a public hearing with Mr. Rob Wright on the report of the independent review panel, "Strengthening the Capacity of the Department of Finance." In doing this, I would like to welcome everyone to the second public hearing of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. I welcome Mr. Rob Wright to discuss the report of the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: There is an old saying in Ireland that a meeting is not over not until everything has been said, but until everyone has said something. There is a little more time I would like to accommodate. A number of members have indicated and I will accommodate every other member who wishes to come in, but on the timeframe of one question within one minute, with Mr. Nyberg to reply. I will go through...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: I made an error earlier. Senator D'Arcy should have been before Senator MacSharry. My apologies.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (17 Dec 2014)

Ciarán Lynch: That has already been dealt with so I will just take a very brief response.