Results 19,881-19,900 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: That PwC report made the point that even under the adverse scenario, Anglo was projected to meet the minimum capital requirements at the end of September 2010. That conclusion was there a month before Dr. Bacon's report was completed.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: When Dr. Bacon was doing his work in 2009 did he ever envisage that €64 billion would ultimately have to be injected into the Irish banking system?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Did he not believe the problem was on that scale?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Beyond his reports which relate to 1998, 1999 and 2000 in terms of the property market, what in Dr. Bacon's view were the main drivers or ingredients of the rapid increases in residential property prices seen during 2004, 2005 and 2006?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Professor Ahearne is very welcome. I will start with the September 2005 study he did with his colleagues in the Federal Reserve. He looked at 44 episodes of house price booms and busts in 18 advanced countries since 1970. If he were to go back to update the study in light of what has happened in Ireland in recent years, where would Ireland stand or rank in the context of the countries he...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: From peak to trough?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: What other examples would be up there in the top three?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Just to take Professor Ahearne on to the link between the property price crash and the impact on the banking system, was that link fully understood in the years leading up to the crisis? Was it understood that the risks that were being built up through dramatic property price increases could potentially have a major impact on the banks and the banking system? Does he think that was...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: In the Irish context, in terms of the banking crisis that did develop, and looking at the exposures in commercial real estate and residential mortgage lending, if Professor Ahearne were to attach a weighting to both of those in terms of the underlying risks and losses in the banking system, which was more important and what kind of ratio would he attach?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: When Professor Ahearne was answering Deputy Murphy earlier about the meeting he had with the late Brian Lenihan in August 2008, he said that around that time there were rumours and anecdotes about Anglo Irish Bank. The term he used was "a complete basket case". Was that what he was picking up socially? When was he talking about exactly? Was it July to August 2008?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: What is Professor Ahearne's view, then, on the characterisation a month later, at the end of September 2008, of the problems within the banks and even in Anglo Irish Bank - we will explore that, obviously, in much more detail - that it was a liquidity issue and not a solvency issue at heart? Does Professor Ahearne think, given the loose talk that was going around at that time, that it was...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: Finally, in Professor Ahearne's opening remarks he characterised quite starkly the change in the nature of mortgage lending in Ireland around 2006 and the data from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government that one in three new home buyers in 2006 took out 100% mortgages. That rate had doubled from the year before. Two thirds of all new home mortgages taken out in...

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: That can happen already.

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: The Government should allow this Bill to be teased out in much greater detail on Committee and Report Stages. There is a fundamental flaw in the insolvency service as it is constituted. We have to accept that it is not working. The overarching State response to the mortgage crisis was the establishment of an independent statutory insolvency service. That service is not functioning because...

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: At the end of the day, the Government allows the banks to call all the shots. It is allowing the banks to dress up threatening legal letters as so-called "solutions" under the mortgage arrears targets programme. The banks are sending threatening legal letters in order to claim they have fulfilled their responsibility to offer a sustainable solution. The Government is allowing the banks to...

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: As I highlighted to the House on 4 November last, the numbers involved are simply frightening. By way of example, in the first six months of 2013, there were only 44 ejectment civil bills in Cork Circuit Court. In the second half of 2013, however, there were 246 and this figure increased to 335 for the first six months of 2014. In Cork alone, at least 100 cases per week are being brought...

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: People are being forced into bankruptcy. Is the Government's solution for people in mortgage arrears to end in bankruptcy? That is the coded message it is sending. The banks know they have the option of bankruptcy with a three year discharge period with another few years of debt hanging over people's heads. People in mortgage arrears should not have to become bankrupt to have their...

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: That is the overriding message. Bankruptcy is in place for people with more complicated debt arrangements, including business and related debts. Those who have been able to persuade their secured creditors to approve their PIA proposal have been forced to accept surprisingly small write-offs of secured debts to ensure their proposal is approved by their creditors, with the average...

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Mar 2015)

Michael McGrath: That is correct. On behalf of Fianna Fáil, I am delighted to move this important legislation, the Family Home Mortgage Settlement Arrangement Bill 2014, which was formally introduced in December. I am glad we have procured some Private Members' time to have a proper debate on it. This Bill is all about the family home. For many families, their homes are under serious attack....