Results 61-80 of 274 for long speaker:Sean Barrett

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (18 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: .... Buti said the sudden drop in residential house prices undermined the viability of most Irish banks and exposed a striking lack of supervisory and regulatory rigour. That writing was on the wall long before that and it did not take the decline in house prices to know that what was going on was not sustainable.

Seanad: Private Rental Sector: Motion (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...do not know if it is possible to bring back the building society movement, but it did play a role. Because they are dependent on short-term finance, banks are particularly unsuited to meeting the long-term commitment required in the housing market. I hope, therefore, that we can interest pension funds in entering it. The banks created the bubble and caused the crash. The aspiration...

Seanad: Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: .... Senator Craughwell has raised very important points, which also were mentioned by Senators Michael D'Arcy and Cummins. This is an appalling addiction and whereas cigarettes and alcohol take a long time, this can destroy a family immediately. I thank Members opposite for the points they have made but between now and Report Stage, would it be possible to provide for a rule that one...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: ECOFIN Briefings: Minister for Finance (10 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...are not allowed to shunt the burden onto average people. Margaret Hodge, MP, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee in the UK, pointed out that some of the financial institutions which not long ago were knocking on the UK Treasury's door to ask for a bailout are now facilitating tax avoidance in a number of countries, at great cost to the rest of society but substantial profits for...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (5 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: Why has it taken so long, given that the euro was established as a financial currency in 1999 and an actual currency in 2002? It is now 2015. Should these rules not have been in place when the currency was introduced?

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...with Spain. In wishing the Minister every success in his endeavours, I also commend Ms Susan Mitchell and Mr. Pat Kenny, the journalist and broadcaster, who have made this an issue for a long time. On the issue of the British Airways takeover of Aer Lingus, I attended a meeting organised by the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, Deputy John O'Mahony, this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Feb 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...in its discussions of this. I refer to the positive comments of the representatives of the development agencies. IDA Ireland's submission states: "We need competition between carriers to ensure long-term cost competitiveness." I could not agree more. Economists always oppose these anti-competitive mergers. They welcomed the deregulation of the market and its opening up to new entrants....

Seanad: Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (28 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: ..." which provide for them to be as broad ranging as possible. We also seek to extend the definition of "remuneration". Universities should be independent, globally aware and engaged. They were global long before "globalisation" was a term applied to wider society. Trinity College Dublin came from Oxford and Cambridge universities which, in turn, came from the university in Paris....

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...an important contribution to the policy debate, as Senator Zappone has done. There were faults in Frankfurt and Brussels. It is not always down to the Greeks being indolent, the Spanish taking long lunch breaks or Irish bankers gone a bit crazy. The design faults in the euro currency have to be addressed. We need a debt summit. I hope that the Government will move towards asking some...

Seanad: Improving the Quality of Early Years Education: Statements (21 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...to the effect: "who wants teacher training anyway", and that we can do something much more prestigious in - insert the name of the university concerned. This is the most important area. I have felt for a long time that maths teachers should be trained in mathematics departments with everybody else and not siphoned off into lower grades of courses. This is the most important task they...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (21 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Professor Lane, a long-standing colleague of mine. The italicised part of his paper on page 8 reads: "The capacity of the euro area to respond to such a financial crisis is as yet untested." He warned of that in 2006. Is that not right?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (15 Jan 2015)

Sean Barrett: ...the Central Bank want these powers when it was obviously not exercising them? In case study No. 2 Professor Honohan refers to how it took several months for a letter to be issued and at least as long for a response to arrive. Obviously the bank was not very good at this task, which it lobbied to be given as part of its opposition to the McDowell report.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...that context, I wish to withdraw amendment No. 6 and do not wish to move amendments Nos.7 or 8. I thank the Minister for informing us about these exciting developments which have been needed for a long time. As has been said previously, the 58% price increase over a four or five year period could not be sustained.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...to in the Milliman report. We might look at VHI as an insurer against risk, but to medical sector providers it is a guaranteed source of income. Is that why the average length of stay was found by Milliman to be so long in comparison with best international practice? Are these incentives the wrong ones in a system where we are trying to reduce health service costs? Are they actuarially...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Fiscal Assessment Report - November 2014: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (4 Dec 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...at Professor McHale's own area of interest, which is the health service, that is the target so what are the instruments? There are some studies showing that we keep people in hospital for far too long and it is extremely expensive. Other studies examine the balance between outpatients, GP services and hospitalisation, whether hospitalisation is extremely expensive, and the average length...

Seanad: Homelessness: Statements (3 Dec 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...by local authorities was something like 90%. Those houses are there and it would take very little to bring many of them up to a habitable standard. As Senator Hayden has said, it will take a long time to bring other new accommodation on stream. One must admit that we have housing that is not affordable in the full sense. The construction industry must be confronted about that. We had...

Seanad: Situation in Middle East and Ukraine: Statements (27 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...and Palestine. The Minister has said he is open to recognising the Palestinian state, but that it is the view of the great majority of European partners that this is not the time to do it. How long more should we wait? As a neutral country without any tradition of colonising others, we should stand aside from Europe if the other member states insist on their present policies. They are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Insurance Schemes: Discussion (27 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: In his paper, Mr. Burgess knocked €67,000 off a €300,000 house. Dr. Lyons has been making that point for a very long time. The real problem we are addressing here is that housing is far too expensive in Ireland. Our fathers or grandfathers could get a house for two and a half times their income. What is wrong with the Irish construction industry? I would like the witnesses...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Insurance Schemes: Discussion (27 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...collapse of its share price in the last number of weeks. Genworth had similar problems on 7 November. It was reported that a credit rating firm cut the company to junk on concerns about its long-term care insurance business, but it included this one. That is a problem I still have with it. In the literature brought to us this morning, there are two companies about which I would feel...

Seanad: Tourism Industry: Statements (26 Nov 2014)

Sean Barrett: ...industry is another failed experiment that we have tried, and it is to be hoped that we do not go there again. It is a very sophisticated industry and some of the approaches in the past were not conducive to our long-term development. A report similar to the theme of the Minister's speech is the Dublin City Business Association report on developing Dublin. As the Minister said, it has...