Results 10,141-10,160 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Okay, thank you.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Ahern, you're very welcome. I want to go back to 1998 and entry into the euro, if I may? Did Charlie McCreevy notify you in advance of his decision to decide the exchange rate at which Ireland would join the EMU? Did you discuss this prior to his decision?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: The exchange rate, at what rate he'd fixed at?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Was it discussed at Cabinet?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Was the Government aware of what fixing of the monetary exchange rate for EMU would mean for interest rates?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Immediately after that decision was taken in Europe with the Minister, commentators at the time predicted that a wall of money would hit the Irish economy immediately following that decision. And then there was immediately a push for a fall in interest rates. So what did your Government do to protect the economy and people from this wall of money that was about to hit the Irish economy?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Yes.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Sorry, I'm just not sure what the relationship is to my question in terms of the increase ... the cheaper money coming into the economy as a result of the lower interest rates. What did the Government do to counterbalance that? And I mean in relation to fiscal policy.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: In 2001 - in February - the EU Council censured Ireland for its failure to use fiscal policy to ensure economic stability given that we were now in a monetary union. Do you accept that charge?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: In terms of the opinions, sorry, and what exactly you accept, it said that it had repeatedly urged the Irish authorities to ensure economic stability by means of fiscal policy. It regretted that this advice was not reflected in the budget for 2001, despite developments in 2000 indicating an increasing extent of overheating. So what did you do about that?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: You say that you reined in public spending but if we look at ... and it's a graph from the Wright report, it's in the documentation - page 81 of Vol. 3. What we actually see in the years for 2000, 2001, 2002 is public expenditure increasing far beyond what was being recommended by the Department of Finance. So did you actually rein in public spending? Because what I see in this report is...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: I don't want to get into a long narrative on this, Mr. Ahern, I want to stick to the actual Council censure. But also, what was also said by the Wright report, and if I'm correct, he said that you were in broad agreement with the reports conclusions.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: So on page 48 of the Wright report it says that, when talking about the monetary union, the impacts on the Irish economy and what should have been done with fiscal policy, it says, "Ireland failed the test of prudent fiscal management." Do you accept that?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: That's not what I wanted you to do, Mr. Ahern, but does that mean that you didn't ... that you ignored the censure from the Council?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: If you accept what Mr. Wright says, that we failed the test of prudent fiscal management, and Mr. Cowen accepted that as well when he was before us, does that mean you ignored the European Council?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Despite the censure from the Council and despite also-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Yes. And the Central Bank in 1999 stated "low interest rates have simply added fuel to the Irish economy they have pushed up demand for credit and they have been a contributing factor to the excessive rises in house prices". Did you ignore that warning from the Central Bank?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Sorry ... "low interest rates have simply added fuel to the Irish economy they have pushed up demand for credit and they have been a contributing factor to the excessive rises in house prices". Central Bank in 1999. Prior to the censure from the Council.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: I want to stick to looking at what was being warned ... the warnings from the Central Bank in relation to the budgetary policy of your Government. If we look at the Central Bank pre-budget letter ... towards the end of 2000, this is for the budget for 2001. It warned that despite the strong surplus position the case against an expansionary budget is convincing, as this would heighten the...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (16 Jul 2015)
Eoghan Murphy: Even though the next two budgets were expansionary budgets, going against the advice of the Central Bank.