Results 141-160 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

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

Joe Higgins: -----by an official of the European Central Bank? And, Mr. Noonan, why did you not immediately report this to the national Parliament, to the Dáil, when you came in?

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

Joe Higgins: He used the word "bomb".

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

Joe Higgins: Mr. Noonan can I just press you-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----for a minute. Chairman, would you-----

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

Joe Higgins: No, I put in a-----

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

Joe Higgins: I put a suggestion------

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

Joe Higgins: Mr. Noonan, the ... you say that the ... you weren't threatened, but the Government decision was that you were going to burn, to the tune of some billions bondholders, who had essentially, to use the word scientifically, speculated in a highly speculative bank-----

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, no, but that ... that was ... but the essential-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----but the essential point, Mr. Noonan, was these big bondholders had put in their money, they were unguaranteed, it was a speculative punt by them, and in the world financial market capitalism, if you win, you win, but if you lose, you're supposed to take your losses. So you-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----you were going to impose that principle, and Mr. Trichet told you that that would be considered a default which would have, you suggest correctly, devastating consequences, and that he related in this context the financial services industry, which I know how your Government and the previous Government put so much store on the importance of these institutions-----

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

Joe Higgins: Yes.

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, but to threaten ... to ... how can you use any word except "threaten" economically-----

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

Joe Higgins: No, I understand that-----

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, I understand that. I'm concluding. I understand the word wasn't used, but the word "bombs" was used-----

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

Joe Higgins: -----which does imply a threat, I would suggest.

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

Joe Higgins: Yes.

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

Joe Higgins: Yes, so that ... even more sinister, because you can take whatever you like out of it, I would suggest. But I know the word "threat" wasn't used, Mr. Noonan, but, you know, words have meanings and meanings have ... conjure up a reality that can follow those words.

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

Joe Higgins: I'll have to leave the last word with you for the moment, Minister.

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

Joe Higgins: Mr. Noonan, two questions on different subjects. The Fine Gael manifesto - it's in your evidence book - says in 2011: "[It would] ensure that rogue bankers are pursued for their crimes and that the full rigours of the law will apply to them, and the courts [would] have the powers necessary to impose appropriate fines and jail sentences". Could you please comment on why no legislation has...

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

Joe Higgins: Second question, Mr. Noonan, is on 1 December 2010, in the Dáil speaking on the troika programme you said: There is such a thing as moral hazard. It starts with the individual management and board of directors and then it goes to the institutions. It is a principle of moral hazard in the context of liberal capitalism that if one behaves recklessly, one gets punished. One gets...