Results 1,401-1,420 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (14 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: But if I could put it to you, Mr. O'Rourke, just to challenge what those institutions may have thought, the objective evidence from the likes of Finland, from the likes of Sweden was that these factors that were now happening with a vengeance in Ireland in the 2000s inevitably lead to a crash. Why wasn't a red flag flown high?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (14 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: David McWilliams, in evidence here said: "I think the Irish property crash and the banking crash were both incredibly predictable and absolutely preventable." I haven't time to give a quote in detail, but he referred to what he himself said in October 2003, which was early enough in the process. He is referring to property but particularly to housing. "The Irish housing market is a scam...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (14 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes. Alan Ahearne, in evidence told us of a study in 2005 - that he published - about 44 booms and busts internationally in many countries where you operate I've no doubt. So a view could be put that really it should have been seen and it should have been stopped in advance. And just ... my very last question, Chairman, is this. In relation to Allied Irish Banks in particular, you made...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (14 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Was it difficult to get that information?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (14 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: In general, was good governance in any way in Allied Irish Banks affected by the management and board structures?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (14 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Well, no, I'm just asking you to comment on the question I put, whether the management and board structures, if they - or not - impeded the provision of good governance within the bank.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Parlon, you told the inquiry that you were headhunted by the Construction Industry Federation. Was the fact that Fianna Fáil and your party that you were a part of, and part of the Government ... was continuing on in office ... was that perceived to be a major advantage by the construction industry in lobbying terms and was that the reason why a farmer would be put in charge of the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: But do you think the fact that you would have an inside track to Government would be a big advantage in lobbying? Do you think that may or may not have been a consideration?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. Gentlemen, a Maynooth NUI study found in 2010 in a report, 620 ghost estates after the crash of the bubble. Does the Construction Industry Federation have a policy of what should be done with gold estates ... ghosts estates?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Kelleher, could I ask yourself ... Mr. Frank Daly, chairman of NAMA, was very critical of the construction industry for non-compliance with regulatory standards, including fire safety standards. And we know there were some very high-profile issues with fire safety causing huge problems for the ordinary people who had bought mortgages, etc. When you were director general of the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: No, there were a number of ... I wasn't referring to anyone in particular.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Roughly, what was your annual budget in the 2000s?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes, €5 million or €6 million. Mr. Alan Ahearne, in evidence to the inquiry, said, "In a study I wrote with ... former colleagues, which was published on the [United States] Federal Reserve's website in September 2005, we identified no fewer than 44 episodes of house price booms and busts in 18 advanced countries since 1970."

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Yes. And there were other studies, late '90s, early 2000s, pointing to a well-recognised pattern of boom and then a disastrous crash. With the huge resources you had, and the capability for analysis and research, did you identify in any way the dangers that was happening with the blowing up of the bubble that was going on and what might follow from it?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Davitt, does the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers have a position on the requirements regarding deposits for mortgages from both the borrower and the economy generally?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Can you tell us?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: And what would your recommendation be?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. Do you have a figure that you recommend in regard to the percentage?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. Mr. Davitt, you said in your opening statement that:IPAV [the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers] believes such a body, [you're referring to a national property council] which would have a purely advisory role, would have the potential to play an enormous part in helping build a sustainable property market, bringing about stability and avoiding future troughs and peaks,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (13 May 2015)

Joe Higgins: The ... you say in page 7 of your testimony that the institute, "...makes regular submissions to Joint Oireachtas Committees where useful exchanges of views regularly take place", and you have made budget submissions.