Results 1,041-1,060 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: I regret very much the tone and content of what Deputy Kenny has had to say. The Government has, since the crisis began, taken all necessary steps to secure our economy and the finances of the country and to provide a functioning prospect for recovery, but it has been opposed practically every step of the way by the parties opposite.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: The meeting that is taking place today, at which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is representing Ireland, is a meeting of the euro group finance Ministers, ECOFIN. There has been rumour and conjecture for some time regarding Ireland's position, which I clarified a number of times over the weekend, as did the Minister. Despite suggestions to the contrary from whatever quarter...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: The idea of default as a way of dealing with this matter is far wide of the mark.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: The fact that people opposed-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: -----the National Asset Management Agency, which is the means by which we have segregated assets in a transparent way, using the-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: I am just dealing with the facts.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: NAMA has used the office of the Financial Regulator to outline those distressed assets and the level of loss involved in them. All of these actions by the Government have been in an effort to show that we are doing all we can within our power to deal with the situation that has arisen. We are making sure we work with our partners in the European Union in dealing with the issue that now...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: Practically every week during this session Deputy Kenny has made similar remarks about the situation in which the country finds itself.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: I accord respect to the Deputies' leader. They might reciprocate now and again. I do not accept for one moment that this Government has acted other than in the best interests of the country and competently in every respect in dealing with a crisis of such magnitude.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: I say that fully-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: The situation in which this country has found itself since mid-2008-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: We have dealt with these matters appropriately and introduced measures which have been appropriate in all circumstances. The issue of the guarantee was raised by Deputy Kenny again. The post-mortem Honohan report makes it clear that a guarantee was needed.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: Yes - otherwise-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: Otherwise-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: Either we want to use the House as a place for important debate or we do not. It is not a place for shouting each other down.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: There we go again. The guarantee was required. If people want to talk about the subordinated debt, which made up 3.3% of the total volume, they can do so. Overall, however, there is no doubt that a guarantee was required to avoid an economic implosion. That is the truth.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: Yes. That was unfortunately also a bank of systemic importance, as confirmed in the report by the Governor of the Central Bank.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: If Deputies have a problem with that, they have a problem with the Governor and the authors of the other reports. Those are the facts. We obtained EU approval for those guarantees. There was no existing European system at the time. We had to act in the national interest, and it has been confirmed subsequently that some banks would have had to close their doors in a matter of days had the...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: Throughout all of that, the Opposition, for its own reasons-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2010)
Brian Cowen: -----decided that default was the way to deal with the situation, or that the Icelandic solution was required. That is not true. The way we are dealing with it at the moment is as follows.