Results 101-120 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. Thanks, Mr. Chopra. Mr. Chopra, on page 5 of your written statement to us, I quote, “For effective crisis management it is important to recognize past mistakes, identify and allocate losses quickly and equitably, and move on." Now the losses were certainly allocated quickly. Were the losses of the crash allocated equitably within Ireland?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. And in that regard, Mr. Chopra, why ... can I ask you why do you use the word "might"? Is it the case that international banks and financial speculators and bondholders operate in the capitalist financial marketplace, that the rules are that they make fabulous profits at times but if they gamble and the gamble goes down, they take the losses? But, in this case, is it true that the...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: But the Irish people, the vast majority, were not profligate lenders nor borrowers, but they were the one that was saddled with paying for those who were profligate - that minority, that elite. Is that moral?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: But would you say that the vast majority of ordinary people were profligate?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: What does that mean, Mr. Chopra?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Chopra, with respect, the evidence that we've taken here is of a number of banks giving massive and incredibly large loans to the tune of billions to individual land speculators and others. The evidence is that the majority of the Irish people were not involved, but they paid the price. I'm asking you is that morally justifiable.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Mr. Chopra, when you arrived here to impose the troika programme, there was a widely used photograph which showed yourself and troika colleagues passing an obviously poor man who was begging and perhaps homeless. In the context of the programme that you implemented with the Irish Governments and in the five years since, are you aware that there has been a huge increase in families,...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Can I ask you, Mr. Chopra-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Well, at the same time, Mr. Chopra, you say on page 9 ... you refer to the €16 billion of unsecured senior bondholder exposure. And it was the diktat of the troika that they would be bailed out by the Irish people. Do you agree that that would have built a lot of social homes if the priorities had been different? And my last question, Mr. Chopra, because I'm ... my time is up, you...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Thank you. Mr. Noonan, the extensive availability of property tax incentives has been identified in front of this commission as one of the contributory factors to the financial crisis. Now, in this regard, to what extent do you believe that the capital gains tax exemptions for properties bought between December 2011 and December 2014 may have led to an overheating of the property market in...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Some people might find it ironic that what was one of the causes of the bubble and then the crash is again being recycled in relation to trying to come out of a crisis. And would you not have considered other measures? For example, in view of the homelessness crisis, a major public house-building programme ... would that not be an alternative to these kind of failed in the past tax breaks?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: We'll move on because of time. In reply to a recent parliamentary question, you noted that the State has received over €12.7 billion from bank-related levies, investment income and dispositive investment since the bank guarantee came into effect. Now, it would take a long time to outline the aggregate, how that was aggregated. So, could I ask you perhaps if a detailed ... these...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Your Department can provide it again if that ... Mr. Noonan, in November of 2010 in Dáil Éireann, you were highly critical of the bailout package, the troika package and, in particular, the lack of burden sharing with bondholders, more popularly referred to as burning bondholders. Now, can I just ask you in relation to that and explore a little bit with you since you came into...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. Did the briefing outline plans to enforce burden-sharing on senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: And when did the Government make the decision to burden-share?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Okay. And then, Mr. Noonan, you say in your written statement again that on 31 March 2011 you were due to address the Dáil at 4.30 in the afternoon on banking issues. And the draft of your speech at 1.30 p.m. you say, said as follows, "The Government will, however, having consulted with the external partners, legislate if necessary to allow for burden sharing with senior bondholders in...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Right.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: Was the amount in the draft?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: And what amount was that?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (10 Sep 2015)

Joe Higgins: €3.7 billion?