Results 1,901-1,920 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Seanad: Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I thank Senator Higgins for tabling this amendment. I know she probably spoke to the first amendment more than the second. I understand that she has genuine issues around that and that she wants to have a genuine conversation. The Senator makes extremely valid arguments about choice and the conversations we must have. I am afraid we cannot have them with this Bill because I am not in...

Debenhams Ireland Redundancies: Motion [Private Members] (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: “extends its sympathy to the employees of Debenhams Ireland who have lost their jobs given the liquidation of the company; acknowledges the distress and worry that this is causing for employees of Debenhams Ireland, and the added difficulty at the present time...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I will try to deal with most of the issues raised. I will not stray into the mortgage issue. I will leave that to the Minister for Finance. I will respond to the questions in reverse order. Deputy Mattie McGrath did contribute to the debate last night and I did try to address some of his concerns. The Deputy had to leave early last night as well and I did not get an opportunity to do...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: We are using the existing bank network to distribute the finance to people who need it. If we set up our own network, it could slow down the process, it could be cumbersome and costly and so on. The credit guarantee, which works all across Europe, is done this way. We guarantee the financial products. This puts the banks in a stronger position to give people a better deal on their loans....

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I did not interrupt Deputy O'Reilly when she spoke.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I will use Deputy O'Reilly's words.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: With respect to Deputy O'Reilly's terms, I put them back at her. In my view, her colleague did not act like a businessman last night. Rather, he acted like a child and a spoiled child at that. He knew that the European Council meetings ran over by a couple of days, the knock-on effect of which was that the Cabinet and sub-Cabinet meetings were rescheduled. The Tánaiste wanted to be...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: With respect, I was asked to address the situation last night. People do not like that I am here; that is fair enough.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: With regard to the issue of evictions raised by Deputy McGrath, the legislation that went through the House towards the end of March to ban evictions was solely in regard to domestic and residential housing. I took that legislation through on behalf of my then senior Minister. We announced that there were no evictions and that businesses are still under pressure but those evictions are...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of interest costs because I did not get the chance to go into the detail on this yesterday. It is important that when we are having these discussions, SMEs, as well as those who provide assistance to them, such as State agencies and Chartered Accountants Ireland, recognise that this is only one of several interventions that the State is making, using...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: I got a chance to touch on this briefly on Second Stages. I will first explain what section 5 is about. It introduces a new section 4A into the Act of 2012. This new section 4A provides the Minister with the power, subject to the consent of both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to give guarantees in accordance with the Covid-19 credit guarantee...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (Resumed) (22 Jul 2020)

Damien English: We will probably get a chance on Committee Stage to go through many of the suggestions that were made. I thank the House for the support for the Bill. Most Members across the board supported it. I noticed that Deputy Martin Kenny did not like how we are going to administer the loans, but he did not put forward any other way to do it. Most Members agree, therefore, that this is the right...

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: The initial efforts were with the main banks because they have 90% of the customers. It will be open to all lending institutions to use the scheme.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: Will the Deputy be there too for the entertainment?

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: Just to point out, the Tánaiste wanted to be able to debate this legislation but the Cabinet meetings were changed because of the European Council meetings. I think the Deputy is aware of that.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: It is a silly issue to be bringing up. It is irresponsible.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: The schedule was set last week and the Deputy knows it.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: Cabinet changed.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: With respect, it is an unfair accusation. The Deputy knows that the Tánaiste has to attend Cabinet meetings which should have been on yesterday but were moved in response to the European Council.

Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (21 Jul 2020)

Damien English: The Deputy should act in a businesslike manner.