Results 17,661-17,680 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I endorse what Senators Regan and Ó Murchú said. It beggars belief what will happen next Monday.

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: What would a prospective investor outside Ireland — we have to impress these people at the moment — make of the Irish people going on general strike when faced with the greatest economic crisis they have ever come across? What is proposed is complete and utter economic madness and suicide. I agree with Senator Regan that the trade unions must make an unconditional declaration they will...

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I am in agreement with other Senators that this House must be reformed so that it can capture the public imagination and obtain public support. It certainly does not enjoy these advantages currently and this is presumably reflected in the negligible public response to today's debate. Other Members have referred to their own experience. The first action I took upon first being elected to...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I will speak to the section.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I wish to correct Senator Harris. The incident to which he referred took place 30 years ago. I was a stockbroker at the time.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: It is important that I correct the Senator's comments. His story is correct but the circumstances should be explained. When I saw a few people coming, I feared them becoming clients. To prevent them from becoming my clients, I would steer them as far away from the Stock Exchange as I could.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I did so to ensure they never returned to me.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I do not care what the fund is called but we should decide whether it is an emergency fund. It is certainly no longer a pension fund. Senator Harris is correct in that regard. We should not borrow to put money into a saving fund because it is too expensive to do so.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: It is one no longer.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: That is Department of Finance gobbledygook.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: The responses given by Ministers in respect of amendments to Bills of this nature contain a common thread. I find such responses disappointing. The common thread to which I refer relates to the "hands off" attitude to the banks. I have spoken about this matter so often that I sometimes exhaust myself with the monotony of what I say. However, I cannot understand why the Government has not...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: These individuals are putting up two fingers to the Government on a daily basis and they are winning. When the chief executive of AIB put two fingers up to the Irish people last week, I really began to despair. The individual in question stated he would remain in his job for the foreseeable future. When asked what he would be paid, in words reminiscent of those used by the former chief...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: There was no need for the report.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I am at a loss about a couple of issues and I ask the Minister of State for an explanation. When €7 billion has been taken from the National Pensions Reserve Fund and split evenly between Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, how much will be left in the fund? On the basis that these figures cannot be calculated daily, I ask the Minister of State for a reasonably up-to-date figure,...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: How much will it be this year?

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: The payment into the fund from the Exchequer.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: May I pursue this further? If €1.6 billion is being borrowed, or coming out of Exchequer funds, whichever one likes — it does not really matter how one designates it — is there not the possibility of making a saving? It is a reasonable point to make. This fund is now being used for utterly different purposes from those for which it was set up. That is why this legislation is before...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: The Minister is ruling out the possibility of making a massive saving by saying the Government will go ahead and borrow the money on the market to put into the fund. Is that correct? I want to get this right. We are actually going to go out and borrow the money to put into the fund. Is that right?

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: Why?