Results 18,241-18,260 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have been in considerable communication with a number of taxi drivers. The petitioner is a member of the National Private Hire & Taxi Association, NPHTA, which is one of the largest taxi driver representative organisations. They are annoyed over the manner in which this tariff change has been implemented and they have cause to be. There were protests about this a while ago...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the witnesses for their participation. I would like to discuss the variable rate mortgages and the apparent differences in the rates here compared to those in the UK. While profiles of borrowers can vary anywhere, variable interest rates seem to be higher here than in Britain and the North of Ireland. The witnesses referred to greater risk in the South. Could they elaborate on it?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Credit losses?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Credit losses refers to losses the bank has incurred in the South of Ireland, presumably much of which has to do with what we have just been through.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What I am trying to establish, and this is probably the perception, is that the banks are unloading the cost of their own mistakes onto the variable mortgage holder, therefore, the cost is greater here because we have been through this crisis, which was largely not of the making of the people with the mortgages but of the financial institutions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Mr. Brown has made that point, and I do not have much time so I will take that answer. I ask about Mr. Brown's interaction with the Minister, the Department and so on. Can he tell us anything about what the Minister is saying or has said to him on these matters or the degree to which he would be willing to respond to what the Government is saying about the extra pressure it will put on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What I really want to know is whether he is putting pressure on the bank.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: But to date.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To date, the Minister has not put any pressure on Mr. Brown on this matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On the mortgage arrears issue, what is Mr. Brown's explanation of the 2,000 people who just will not engage?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Generally speaking, the mortgage-to-rent process does not seem to have happened. I am disappointed that has not materialised to a greater extent because it is potentially the solution to many of the most difficult cases that one would imagine, that is, people who have lost their jobs and those on low income. Mr. Brown might answer that but I will ask him one final question given that my...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is there anything comparable in terms of where companies that would owe Ulster Bank €150 million, for example, would get a write-down of €110 million?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does Mr. Brown have anything like that in terms of his bank's write-downs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Sold them at a big discount.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Originally, I had one supplementary question but after Deputy Arthur Spring’s question I have two.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is the opposite because I totally disagree with what the Deputy just said. Deputy Spring’s line of questioning essentially shows the desperation of the Government trying to resolve the housing crisis. It is now trying to put the onus on the banks to sort it out. That is a futile policy which is destined to go nowhere and, essentially, absolves the Government of its requirement to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not enough by a long mile. From the bank’s point of view, given the Government’s strategy to resolve the serious housing crisis appears to be to beg the banks to start lending again-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is what you just said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Deputy Spring and the Government are relying on the banks and the private sector to fill this enormous gap in the construction of housing units. Given his own caution about getting back into this market again, does Mr. Brown believe realistically that the banks, collectively, are going to provide the sort of finance that will fill the enormous gap in housing construction that is needed at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of the Banking Sector in Ireland (Resumed): Ulster Bank (29 Apr 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will not pursue it further. However, I draw from that response that given everything that happened, if other banks are likely to have a similar concern about going down that road again, the current housing crisis will not be resolved - at least alone - by the finance that might be provided by the banking system in this country and that we are going to have to look elsewhere. I...