Results 1,261-1,280 of 3,797 for speaker:Ciarán Cannon

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: ICT in Primary Schools: Discussion (6 May 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I apologise sincerely to all of the delegates. I was subject to the vagaries of Iarnród Éireann's timetable in getting here from Athenry and missed the presentations. I am very sorry that I missed them because it would have been fascinating to hear what they had to say. Many of them have been deeply involved for decades in the exploration of the use of ICT in primary schools. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: ICT in Primary Schools: Discussion (6 May 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: The opportunity for young people that I mentioned, Mathletes, is run on the Khan Academy platform. The Khan Academy is free. It does not cost anybody anything. Mr. O'Leary was correct to point out that unless one has a suitable broadband connection it is nigh on impossible to make it function within the classroom setting but where it does, it is a powerful learning tool. We had a one...

Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions: Motion [Private Members] (28 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: From 2007 to 2011 the property price crash combined with the loss of more than 250,000 jobs left many of our home owners floundering in the waters of a national mortgage crisis. While 85% of Irish mortgage holders are now successfully making their mortgage repayments, in some cases at significant personal sacrifice, the Government has worked hard since 2011 to throw a very important lifeline...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland: Allied Irish Banks (22 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the witnesses for their helpful engagement. I wish to make two observations. Mr. Duffy described a number of factors that play into the overall decision-making process. In terms of the interest rate that applied to variable mortgages, he said that operational costs were one of the factors. How significant a portion of the overall decision-making process is represented by the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland: Allied Irish Banks (22 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: As advised at that point in time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland: Allied Irish Banks (22 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: In Mr. O'Connor's opinion there is no excessive drain on the resources of the core business in order to service the non-core construction activity.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland: Allied Irish Banks (22 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: Is that what the bank strives to achieve?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland: Allied Irish Banks (22 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: That is okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland: Allied Irish Banks (22 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the delegation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Irish Language Education: Discussion (1 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: Fáiltím roimh na finnéithe go léir. Tá brón orm nach bhfuil mé in ann leanacht ar aghaidh i nGaeilge mar bhí Gaeilge álainn agam nuair a bhí mé i bhfad níos óige ach tá sí beagnach caillte agam anois. I am quite concerned at some of the statistics that have been quoted and some of the observations that have been made...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Irish Language Education: Discussion (1 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: That is much more than an educational challenge. That is a societal challenge. When I attended a course in Carraroe myself - I was fortunate enough to be there every summer throughout post-primary school - a gentleman called Pól Mac Con Iomaire was a teacher of mine. I said that this was a fantastic situation to have in the Gaeltacht, that there are young people talking about pop...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Irish Language Education: Discussion (1 Apr 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: Is it possible to recreate that away from the Gaeltacht in, for example, Mayo, Sligo, Limerick or Waterford? Is it possible to recreate that environment, even in a smaller context?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Green Paper on Capital Markets Union: Discussion (31 Mar 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I welcome Mr. Aidan Carrigan, assistant secretary at the Department of Finance; Mr. Niall O'Sullivan and Ms Rosie Keane from the markets and securities unit in the Department; and Mr. Oliver Gilvarry and Mr. David Owens from the Central Bank of Ireland. The format of this session will be the same as the last one, with the witnesses making some opening remarks of no more than five minutes...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Green Paper on Capital Markets Union: Discussion (31 Mar 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: The meeting is back in public session. Mr. Carrigan can recommence. I am sorry for the delay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Green Paper on Capital Markets Union: Discussion (31 Mar 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I have two questions for Mr. Carrigan. In his presentation, he said that it is not immediately apparent what the benefits to the Irish SME sector may be arising from strengthened CMU. How do we ensure that our SMEs benefit to the maximum extent? Some early contributors, particularly Dr. Gurdgiev, said that the Irish market may be too small and that our SMEs are simply too small in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Green Paper on Capital Markets Union: Discussion (31 Mar 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: My next question was to have been about crowd funding because it is an area I have a lot of interest in and one that is vastly under-utilised in terms of funding opportunities for Irish SMEs and micro-businesses. How does Mr. Carrigan envisage making the crowd funding model more accessible to Irish SMEs or somehow legitimising it as a funding opportunity for fledgling Irish businesses? What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Green Paper on Capital Markets Union: Discussion (31 Mar 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: On behalf of the committee I thank all of the witnesses for their time and their contributions. The committee will be making a submission to the consultation process. There may also be questions arising from members of the committee that will be forwarded to witnesses. They might be so kind as to respond to those. Unless there is any other business the meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

Topical Issue Debate: Rural Transport Services (17 Feb 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I can only speak from my experience of working with three distinct communities and three individuals wishing to serve those communities. They satisfied all of these criteria. Their application was accompanied by a letter from a community group that advocates on behalf of the community and works to address the needs of the rural community. They were also accompanied by a forensic analysis...

Topical Issue Debate: Rural Transport Services (17 Feb 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, for coming into the Chamber to discuss this issue. In December 2013 the then Minister of State with responsibility for public transport, Deputy Alan Kelly, a representative of the predominantly rural constituency of Tipperary North, introduced an innovative and far-sighted scheme to allow rural communities with a dearth of public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Future of Higher Education: Discussion (11 Feb 2015)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the witnesses for their interesting input. It challenges us all to assess how exactly to approach the funding of third level and support the sector in the future, especially bearing in mind we will have almost 30% more students in the sector by 2028, which, frankly, is a frightening statistic. I have a couple of observations which may morph into questions. Mr. Costello stated...