Results 18,381-18,400 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes, there was an individual case which had been in a planning process and had got into some sort of difficulties and wasn't able to make the deadline and the case was whether an extension could be allowed to ... There was a legitimate expectation, I suppose, that the project was built on the basis ... was being developed on that basis. And it was in an area that needed such support and it...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No, this was an issue-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes, I think like ... I obviously have to go back and see, but I see one statement I had at the time, €118 billion increase in Irish indebtedness in two years. This was the start of 2007.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: This was on foot of "the Central Bank's monthly statistics for last December reveal that in two years alone Irish residents have increased their indebtedness by €118 billion".

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: It was on the back of the then report of the Central Bank but I think over the period of, you know, throughout the period, you know, banking, lending, financial regulation was-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes, throughout that period, I mean, the concerns... as you know, at least as the Taoiseach has outlined, in 2002 we were very unhappy with the Central Bank and financial regulation structure, that we didn't believe it was fit for purpose. Those concerns continued right through 2004, 2005. You had a number of cases where the banks were not compliant with their obligations. The banks were...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well clearly it was never enough in the sense that the banking system was highly exposed. The Central Bank itself, as you know, in their stability reports of 2005 and 2006, they highlighted the vulnerabilities that were there, the excessive growth in credit, the excessive reliance on property, the excessive reliance on overseas funds. But none the less, they concluded, the Central Bank and...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well, as, as you say, you know, in retrospect, due diligence of economic expectations wasn’t strong enough but political parties weren’t the source of forecasts and no political party would be credible in offering our forecast of what’s happening to the economy. So, we relied on the Department of Finance and ESRI forecasts. Clearly, in retrospect those forecasts were...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well, our current spending was forecast over the period to be grow at 8%, GDP was growing at 4% and the, the policy rule we had had, as going back to 2002, was nominal growth in GDP plus 2 points-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Well obviously, between 4.2% and 8% you had inflation, which was running around two and you had the 2% margin. So, we, we projected in line with the policy that we had pursued back in 2002 and was consistent that growth should ... that growth in public spending could be somewhat higher but have to be within the pattern with growth of the economy. What had been going ... in the years prior...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: So we, we said, you know, we ... and that was locking first-time buyers out of the market, it was becoming an excessive source of, of, of reliance-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: I beg your pardon, sorry.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes we provided in, in, in the policy manifesto for a contingency in, in that respect.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: I don't know what the level, we, we said that in, in budgeting that would have to be an element, I don't have that detail.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: We were looking at bringing down the growth rate ... on, on ...a, a spending growth rate.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Spending growth rate, which had been going in the opposite direction in the years before.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No, my recollection is something similar. I mean, I think rumours were coming through the night before that there was going ... there was pressure, that the banks were in serious difficulty and that something might happen and so I think the following morning Brian Lenihan phoned to say the Government was making this decision and, obviously, there was ... he was setting up briefing and...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: No, I mean I think I've outlined it in my submission. I mean, repeatedly there wasn't. I mean, at the very first time when the Central Bank and IFSRA legislation came in, I sought that there should be a proper study of the adequacy of our oversight mechanisms, that we should, you know, in light of then financial breakdowns like Enron and so on, that we needed to stress test our approach....

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes, I suppose at that time, the key issue for us was, as I said, two things. One was restoring enterprise, innovation and exports, that was the model. That had been severely undermined, and we believed that part of that was a tax policy that would be more supportive of enterprise. So we did, with the economy forecast as it was then, to be on a reasonable growth phase, we believed that...