Results 17,701-17,720 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I have. I want to ask the Leader if we could have a debate on a particular aspect of this. That is a question which everybody outside this country is muttering. One can see by the credit rating in the international markets what they think. The answer is we are in danger of defaulting at some stage. It is an issue we will have to face up to because it is the kind of situation we are in....

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I am asking for a debate on this for the following reason. The Financial Regulator is an institution which has lost the faith of the international markets. They do not think it can do it because they think it is absolutely genetically flawed. That is the problem we will have to attack next. We will have to face it because it is no good not facing these appalling facts which the...

Seanad: Recapitalisation of Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland: Statements (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I propose to share time with Senators Norris, Quinn and Bacik. I thank Senator Butler for his free investment advice on buying land. I remind him that the Senator Cassidy offered similar advice from the same seat not so long ago.

Seanad: Recapitalisation of Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland: Statements (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: About 18 months ago, Senator Cassidy told us to buy property. While I do not know what would have been the results of any such investment, I doubt if Senator Butler is in the right place to offer similar advice. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. His speech amounted to a statement by the Government that it is waving a white flag. It is an appalling document which demonstrates an...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I wish to endorse what previous speakers stated with regard to Irish Life & Permanent being put in the frame in respect of this matter. My understanding of this matter, which is based only on press reports, is that if the transaction in question took the extraordinarily circuitous route outlined - which was utterly deceitful - it was not actually Irish Life & Permanent's funds which were...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: It is extraordinarily difficult to understand how or why this happened. The two main banks had no cards with which to play but they have emerged victorious. They will be given €7 billion and all they have been asked to do is provide some form of financing for small businesses. Apparently they will increase the amounts they were previously giving to such businesses by 10%. They were not...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Yes, I must think of one.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I wish to ask the Leader for a specific debate on this matter. There is a cartel in operation whereby those involved with the banks go to their AGMs and vote for each other. I regret to say that we will not be pacified by the fig leaves being offered by the Minister for Finance. I agree with what Senator Leyden said yesterday and today. Directors offering to take tiny drops in salary is...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Yes, they were.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Nothing would surprise anybody about Anglo Irish Bank and the activity it has been up to. There is probably a lot more to come from that particular source. What was discovered by David Murphy of RTE last night was far more serious because I have never seen more obvious evidence of a cartel being run by the banks than this particular activity which has been revealed for everybody to see. It...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: That is desperately serious. The question we must now ask is whether Irish Life & Permanent is doing this for Anglo Irish Bank, and it is normal behaviour, who else is doing it for whomever else? Is the Bank of Ireland doing it for AIB and vice versa? On a day when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will announce that he is putting €7 billion from the pension fund into these...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: On a point of order, I wish to raise under Standing Order 30——

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Can the Cathaoirleach take it after the Order of Business?

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: That is fine.

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 30 (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I wish to raise under Standing Order 30 an important matter of public interest, namely that Seanad Éireann discuss the latest crisis in Irish banking. We have seen today, particularly from the Fianna Fáil benches, an obvious desire for a serious discussion on what is a completely new dimension in the Irish banking industry. We have seen all-party concern about the matter. It is almost a...

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 30 (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: If the nation was in a state of war would you have the same verdict?

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 30 (11 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Okay. We will declare war then.

Seanad: Education Matters: Statements (10 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I have never been able to understand why education is so readily and obviously chosen as a target for cuts when it comes to cut public expenditure. Of all Departments of State, I would have thought the Department of Education and Science was the one which did not need to be cut. It is the one Department about which there have been fewer allegations of waste than any other of which I am...