Results 16,521-16,540 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: This was on the EFSF element, is it? The 2.92% margin was on the EFSF element?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay, but are you acknowledging that, in hindsight, the rate was too high?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Can I take you to the issue of burden-sharing, which featured during the negotiations of the bailout programme as well? We heard evidence this morning from Ajai Chopra, the mission chief from the IMF, and in his view, if Ireland had been allowed to impose losses on senior bondholders at the time of the programme negotiation, savings of up to €8 billion could possibly have been...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: The Irish legal system or-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: We have examined that issue, yes.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: But is it the case, Mr. Buti, that the dominant consideration from the Commission and the ECB's point of view was the wider impact on the eurozone , the spillover effect? Because I would put it to you that, from an Irish perspective, Ireland was entering into a programme whereby it had, subject to conditionality, a guaranteed stream of funding from the authorities for a period of three...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: So it was both. In your assessment, it was the potential impact on Ireland indirectly through the funding channels and then a direct impact on the wider eurozone and the view of the markets towards the eurozone?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay, and today you believe, looking back, that was still the right decision.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Yes and we are aware of Mr. Geithner's book and the references that he made at that time. But can I take you to a different issue, and that is the issue of Ireland's corporation tax rate? Again, in the lead up to the negotiations and ... there is a reference in evidence that Mr. Cardiff gave in his lengthy written statement where he refers to a visit, a two-day visit to Brussels that he and...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Who paid for it?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Did you convey the sentiment from some countries that you were picking up, you were conveying that?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay. Final question is, you say in your witness statement that during the pre-crisis years in Ireland, strong economic growth masked important imbalances in several key areas of the economy, including housing, banking sector and the public finances and I don't think there is any disputing that. But can I put it to you, Mr. Buti, that the agreed measure at the time of the structural deficit...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Very finally, are you accepting that in the years leading up to the crisis, that the EU's measure of Ireland's structural budgetary position did not detect the growing dependence on property and construction-related receipts and did not detect the impact of that on the underlying fiscal position?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Thank you.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Yes, thanks Chair. Mr. Buti, the end of June 2012 summit agreement statement, which provided for breaking the vicious circle between the banks and the sovereigns, and it opened up the prospect of direct recapitalisation through the ESM - and that facility is now up and running, as I understand it - that was heralded in Ireland at the time as a major breakthrough and as the forum through...
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Sure.
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: Okay and is it the case that there hasn't been any application from any member state yet under the direct-----
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: -----recapitalisation instrument?
- Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)
Michael McGrath: There hasn't been. Finally, you had an exchange with Senator MacSharry there about the guarantee and the costs, and I just want to put it to you: on the one hand you're saying the guarantee was too generous and magnified the fiscal impact of the banking crisis, but on the other hand, you are defending the insistence of the ECB and the Commission that senior bondholders would not have any...