Results 16,741-16,760 of 35,756 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Can I ask a final question on this? My recollection is that we asked for an outline of the corporate structure of the bank vis-à-vis the number of companies in AIB, plc. I am not sure if we ever got that. We have received a great deal of correspondence on these matters-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: It was sent. Okay, I will dig that out. How many homes or houses does AIB now have in its possession and what is the arrangement for them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: I ask Mr. O'Keeffe to explain that to me again. In the middle of a housing crisis, AIB has 900 empty homes across the State. The Housing Agency is going to take on approximately 246 of those homes and house people who are in desperate need. Why did AIB not provide a list of all 900 properties to the Housing Agency? How come another list of 250 homes is now being provided?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. Actually, it is not okay in my opinion. The fact that a State-owned bank has 900 properties lying vacant is unforgivable. I do not know who is at fault here, whether it is the Housing Agency, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government or AIB. That we cannot get three State actors, as well as the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, to work together...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: I have two final questions for Mr. Byrne. Did AIB carry out a review or did its board commission a report into the reasons so many of its customers were taken off tracker mortgages? I am not talking about what he referred to in his opening statement in terms of the examination. Was a report prepared by AIB or commissioned by the board that identified how this actually happened?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: The board never asked for a report as to how this could have happened. Is that right?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Yes but that is the examination, which has absolutely different terms of reference. I am talking about how the bank, through its governance structures, could have allowed this to happen, where almost €100 million was wrongly taken from customers. This will cost the bank up to €190 million but the board has never asked for a report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Did the bank go back through the board's minutes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: If I had access to the minutes of AIB's board meetings from 2008 to 2015, before the examination began, would I see discussions about or references to tracker mortgages being denied to customers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Would I see that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Would I see references to the bank denying AIB customers tracker mortgages at that time if I had access to the board's minutes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Is it not the case that it was raised at board level?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: It was not raised at board level. Is that what Mr. Byrne is saying?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: No, Mr. Byrne has not given me an answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: No, Mr. Byrne has not given me an answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: Was it raised at board level or not? I will accept Mr. Byrne's answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: That does at least give us information that the board, at a different time, was aware of complaints by customers regarding tracker mortgages. It has now been found that the bank erred in those cases.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: The final question I want to ask Mr. Byrne relates to an authorised person under section 39 of the Companies Act. Has AIB ever considered using that section, which would give independent third parties clarity as to who can actually bind AIB in cases in a court of law.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Tracker Mortgages: Allied Irish Banks (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: I ask Mr. Byrne to revert to the committee on that.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (23 Jan 2018)

Pearse Doherty: 214. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if correspondence has been received from the board of management of a school (details supplied) in County Donegal in which the board expressed a desire for the capitation grant to be increased; if a reply to this correspondence has issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3198/18]