Results 1-20 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: I am willing to second Senator Kelly's amendment to the Order of Business. Today, there is a strike in the institutes of technology throughout the country. The institutes have had a 33% increase in students with a 10% decline in staff.I hope the new Oireachtas will address that issue and perhaps look to the highly successful apprenticeship systems in Norway, Austria, Germany and...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: Of course, O'Connell, as well as Redmond and Henry Grattan. They achieved much in Parliament on behalf of the people.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: There is much more to do and may we all be successful in our endeavours to return here.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: I agree with Senator Mary Ann O'Brien regarding Terry Wogan. In very hard times for Irish people in England he was a one-man Anglo-Irish agreement, and it is coming out now that he played a role behind the scenes in promoting better relations between the two countries. Edmund Burke wrote, "If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed."...

Seanad: Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Statements (2 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Leader for proposing extra time for this debate. I also thank Senators D'Arcy, MacSharry and O'Keeffe. The Seanad was very well served in the inquiry. All Members across the political spectrum in the Dáil performed splendidly. They all thanked their assistants when they spoke in the Dáil last week. I add the names of Dr. Charles Larkin and Ms Ursula Ní Choill....

Seanad: Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Statements (2 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Statements (2 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Statements (2 Feb 2016)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Leader for scheduling the debate on the banking inquiry report for next week. I welcome the article by Senator O'Keeffe and the comments by Senators Bacik and Hayden. Banking with a Government guarantee has to be tightly regulated. People all knew where the Department of Finance and Government Buildings were when they were looking for the €64 billion and it is the right...

Seanad: Regulation of Drones Bill 2016: First Stage (28 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: I second Senator Feargal Quinn's motion.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming Esmond Birnie, a former MLA for South Belfast. On the day when we are looking forward to the publication of the report of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis, it is interesting that the advice of Mr. Birnie was that the design faults of the euro made it a currency that he advised the authorities in Northern Ireland not to join. It is...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (27 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: My colleague in the English department in TCD, Terence Browne, wrote about "Dancing at Lughnasa": "Their dance is the dance of the misplaced, of proud, gifted, bravely energetic women whose lives were misshapen by an Irish society that will, as it changes, destroy the life they have struggled to achieve". Senator Ó Clochartaigh has referred to the social commentary that runs through...

Seanad: Public Transport Bill 2015: Second Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: I thank Senator Mooney for facilitating this and I apologise to the Minister and Senator O'Neill. I mean no discourtesy to any party. I thank the Minister for his presentation and the many interesting points made. The deadline is because of the need to take a team photograph of the members banking inquiry prior to the presentation of its report at 3 p.m. There is much to support in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Banking Sector and Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: Is it possible to tilt mortgage credit growth towards average and low priced houses?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Banking Sector and Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: There is a report in the Financial Timestoday stating the factor of house prices to average incomes in Hong Kong is 19. I think the factor in Ireland at the top was 12. There was the era during which houses cost 2.5 to four times average income. Would this be a goal to help us to solve a lot of our housing problems? I am worried about excess credit growth causing bubbles.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Banking Sector and Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: I had Canada in mind. No. 48 on today's Seanad Order Paper is the National Mortgage and Housing Corporation Bill 2015 which has been designed to try to emulate the Canadian mortgage and housing corporation in reflecting the low cost of government borrowing in lending for low price houses, if only it could be done.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Banking Sector and Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: I thank Professor Lane for his responses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Banking Sector and Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: The witness referred to 500 lending institutions having credit reporting obligations. Could these obligations be avoided by going to a lender who was No. 502, for example? Should it be compulsory for all lenders?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Banking Sector and Central Bank of Ireland: Discussion (26 Jan 2016)

Sean Barrett: We found sectoral concentration to be a major problem in the banking inquiry. Has the Central Bank measures to deal with excessive concentration of lending in the property sector again?