Results 141-160 of 7,278 for speaker:Dick Roche

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: I withdraw the remark.

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: As I was saying before I was interrupted, Deputy Kenny's position as of last week could not be further from the position his party rightly and properly adopted in the past. I cannot understand why he has departed from that high standard. The suggestion which has been made by party spin doctors opposite for the past 48 hours that somehow or other the commentary by Sinn Féin, which was very...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: That is true. It is not an isolated incident. Members of this House were very quick to notice what Deputy Kenny said. I draw the attention of the House to what Deputy Ó Caoláin said. He said he echoed the Fine Gael concerns and he politely told the House that he had forecast just a development when he was campaigning for a "No" vote in two referenda on the Lisbon treaty, that is, when...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: I will take all of that. I thank the Acting Chairman. Outside the House, the leader of the Socialist Party, Joe Higgins, hit the nail on the head when he said in The Irish Times that either Deputy Kenny did not know what he was talking about during the Lisbon treaty referendum when he asked the people to vote "Yes" or he is deceiving them now. I would plump for the latter explanation...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: We have all worked so hard-----

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: -----in that regard.

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: We all know Ireland needs Europe and the last thing we need to see is further instability in the eurozone and we all have a responsibility to work to ensure that does not happen. The measures put forward by the European Commission are sensible, necessary and timely but do not undermine any member state's sovereignty. They certainly cannot undermine our position on taxation which has treaty...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: The point I was making when the debate adjourned concerned whether the eurozone is essential for Ireland. There are not many Members who would question it, but it is a reality that safeguarding the financial stability of the eurozone is particularly important to the country for a number of reasons. Businesses need financial stability to trade. We are an open economy and we depend on trade...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: -----we would be in serious "you know what" at the moment. Every credit-----

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: The second point was that easy credit led to unproductive investment and excessive consumption, something with which nobody in the House would disagree. The third point was that public debt exploded throughout the 1980s, but in particular in Greece in the period after 2008. It was a feature across the eurozone. That was due in part to the worldwide crisis.

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: It is an issue which has to be addressed. I listened to contributions from the other side of the House, with respect, and people talked, in particular on this side of the House, about putting off the evil day when we dealt our expenditure issues. An illustrious person came from the broadcasting world into this House but exited after a fairly short period who disagreed with Deputy Bruton's...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: The fourth point was that the euro area lost competitiveness; about that there is no doubt. The entire euro area has lost competitiveness and if one loses competitiveness, one loses jobs. This is one of the issues-----

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: This is one of the issues which we have to address. As I said earlier, I did not interrupt the Deputy although I fundamentally disagreed with quite a number of his points.

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: I will address my comments entirely to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I take my fair share of the blame in this. The final point in the Commission paper, which is a fine paper and well worth reading, is that in order to keep long-term interests rates and boost growth and jobs, the euro needs to consolidate. That is a view which many people have expressed over the period since the euro came...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: -----of putting in place various policies. One of the things which was achieved during that coalition was the 1996 European Council which was agreed in Dublin. Its criteria, which have been largely ignored, were set down. There has been an attempt in the House today to suggest that somehow there has been an attempt by the media and ourselves to rewrite what was said here last week. What...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: -----was well picked up by Sinn Féin.

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: What he said was well picked up by the media and Sinn Féin at the time, neither of whom needed any prompting from us. His reaction to this was disappointing, to point it mildly. He did not show leadership. He sought to misinterpret the Commission proposals in order to embarrass the Government. However, the only people he will embarrass if he keeps this up are those in his party which has...

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: His intervention once again represents a degree of cluelessness which ill becomes the leader of a party.

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: Just how out of touch-----

Euro Area Loan Facility Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2010)

Dick Roche: -----Deputy Kenny has become is glaringly obvious when he attempts to abuse situations, as he did on this occasion. Opposing or making critical comments about the suggestion that the Maastricht criteria should be applied is nonsense. The reaction is odder still when one considers Ireland's role in establishing the criteria. Ireland signed up for the Maastricht treaty and the main political...