Results 19,441-19,460 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sorry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Following on from Deputy Doherty's question, the Irish Brokers' Association said that the same treatment should have been applied to the customers and policy holders of Setanta that was applied to Quinn Insurance, but that was not the case, and that in the case of Quinn Insurance, policy holders got a clear commitment that there would be no loss. What is stopping us from doing that? Is it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is there a divergence of treatment in terms of Quinn Insurance and Setanta customers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I understand. First, that divergent treatment is completely unfair from the point of view of the policy holders. It would probably be the case that if we had the responsibility for trying to sort things out and keep things going, or selling off the policies to somebody else who would maintain them so there were no losses to premium holders, there would probably be far greater motivation to...

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would like to hear from the Minister of State about the problem the Government has with taking on board what we are asking for. I have never heard a convincing argument from that side of the House about why we should not and cannot do that. It is not that we want to take political potshots and accuse the Minister of State of ideological this, that or the other. I simply cannot get my...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Surely, Mr. Sheridan cannot be serious when he says that companies should just behave better. Surely, we must have a more stringent regime of regulation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If this committee is going to come out with useful recommendations, I put it to Mr. Sheridan that a simple thing we could learn where companies are doing there business here while being licensed elsewhere is to look at them straight away. Is that not an obvious conclusion to draw? We should go straight in and start looking at those companies and ring the alarm bells with the regulatory...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sure there are lots of legitimate people out there, but I cannot think of a reasonable explanation for a company selling insurance exclusively into Ireland, having its base of operations and employees here, and presenting itself as Irish all the while being licensed somewhere else. If there are other firms like that, should we not be looking at them straight away to ensure we are not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will pair with the Chairman.

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am discussing them. I am highlighting from the point of view of the stability of the economy, providing housing for those who need it and improving the public finances and creating a revenue stream for the State which it could use in providing public services, housing, etc. why we need to use the relevant funds to invest directly in fully public housing. That is what has been repeatedly...

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Probably, but we want to hear what the Minister of State has to say.

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are hoping to get answers to them from the Minister of State.

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thought it was the case that he would respond and then we would do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If premiums were too low, for example.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is even more scary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: My questions follow those points directly. Some 75,000 policyholders have been shafted. Many of them are small and medium enterprises and many are individuals. Somebody has failed to see this coming. If this discussion is to mean anything, we need to learn lessons. It strikes me that the dogs on the street could have worked out that there was something wrong with a company if it was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Collapse of Setanta Insurance: Central Bank and Department of Finance (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have to interrupt Mr. Sheridan on that. I heard the phrase "properly run" and must challenge it. The point of regulators is precisely to deal with people who do not do business properly. To throw it back and say some firms do not behave as they should is not acceptable. Sure, if they all behaved as they should, there would be no need for regulation. The reason the Central Bank is there...

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On the same theme, we discussed this on Committee Stage and we have been trying to inject a sense of urgency in the Dáil on this issue over the past three years, because this crisis is getting worse. Finally, we have an opportunity to do something about it. When this issue was first raised and when we said the solution was to build council houses rather than rely on the private sector,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (9 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 17. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the criteria and guidelines for the tendering of contracts by public bodies; his views on whether they are sufficiently robust to ensure such contracts contribute to the imperative to create jobs and more generally contribute to the growth of the Irish economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29620/14]

National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Some of us are against the sale of any State assets so obviously we are going to object to anything that facilitates that. Setting aside that point, when we were discussing this issue earlier the Minister of State said that the Minister has the power to do this anyway.