July 2009
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Press Contacts:
Please address all press enquiries to Ross McGuire at press@iiea.com
IIEA in the Press:
Neelie Kroes
"European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes will speak on Recent Developments in Competition Regulation in Dublin next Friday. Dr Kroes was president of Nyenrode university in the Netherlands from 1991 to 2000 and was previously Dutch minister for transport and public works.
The talk takes place at 12.45pm on July 17th at the Institute of International and European Affairs office on North Great Georges Street, Dublin. For more details, call 01-8746756 or e-mail reception@iiea.com."
"Competition commissioner to speak in Dublin" - Irish Times - 13 July 2009
Bo Lundgren
"Bo Lundgren... has found himself an unlikely celebrity abroad -- what with his testimony to a US congressional panel, visits to Spain, Germany and Britain in recent months.
"The interest all came as a complete surprise," said Lundgren... Aside from the trips abroad, there have been interviews -- and lots of them. The BBC, Fox and CNN have all rented studios with satellite link-ups in Stockholm since the crisis began. "Even Al-Jazeera wanted to know how we handled the situation." ...
...After popping up on RTE Radio One's 'Morning Ireland', the man dubbed 'Mr Fix-It' sat through two-and-a-half hours of questioning at an Oireachtas committee meeting, before addressing the Institution of International and European Affairs. "
"Ireland hopes Swedish Mr Fix-It has the answer to banking crisis" - The Independent - 9 July 2009
"Bo Lundgren, director general of the Swedish National Debt Office, says they nationalised in the end despite not wanting to."
"Sweden's Banking Crisis Could Hold Lessons" - Bo Lundgren on the Swedish model of solving banking crises - Morning Ireland - 7 July 2009
"Speaking at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, Mr Lundgren said: “Your problems are greater than ours, to put it mildly.” He said it would take “a year or two” to repair the Irish banks and there would be “costs to handle”.
“You should handle bad assets as long as it takes to recover the value,” he said.
Mr Lundgren, who was also speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, said the total balance sheet of the Swedish banking sector amounted to 120 per cent of GDP. This compares with 300 per cent of GDP for the Irish banks."
"Bank repairs may take 'year or two" - Head of the Swedish National Debt Agency, Bo Lundgren, on the rescue of the Swedish banking sector and Ireland's financial challenges - Irish Times - 8 July 2009
"I have written before about the incisive and articulate contributions of Bo Lundgren, the Swedish Finance Minister in charge during their banking crisis of the early 1990s. Lundgren was in Dublin on Tuesday, giving a talk at the Institute of International and European Affairs and testifying before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service. "
"Lundgren in Dublin and A Proposal Relating to NAMA" - Bo Lundgren on resolving the banking crisis of the early 1990s - Irish Economy Blog - 7 July 2009
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
View the video of Mr Ban's Dublin Castle address here. Download the official IIEA press release here and the transcript of Mr Ban's speech here. View excerpts from Mr Ban's speech and photos from the event here.
"The UN chief will also meet President Mary McAleese and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, as well as attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Mr Ban will give an address at Dublin Castle this morning, under the auspices of the Institute of International and European Affairs, entitled Sixty Years of UN Peacekeeping."
"Cowen to Discuss Climate Change with Ban Ki-moon" - Irish Times - 7 July 2009
"UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today praised Ireland’s contribution to peacekeeping claiming the country was a dynamic presence in the international body. Mr Ban said Irish personnel had served with distinction throughout the organisation.
In a major speech in Dublin Castle Mr Ban paid tribute to Irish soldiers killed in the line of duty under the UN flag, expressing his deepest appreciation for the country’s commitment."
"Ban praises Irish role in peacekeeping" - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses IIEA - Irish Times - 7 July 2009
"UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has paid tribute to Ireland's contribution to UN peacekeeping missions over the past 50 years. Mr Ban also paid tribute to the 90 Irish citizens who lost their lives during UN missions. The UN Secretary General was addressing members of the Institute of International and European Affairs at Dublin Castle this morning."
"Ban pays tribute to Irish peacekeepers" - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses IIEA - RTÉ News - 7 July 2009
The Institute in the News
"The net effect of this [agency capture], says Joseph Curtin of the Institute of International and European Affairs, is that the common good is the big loser when special interests hold court. For Ireland, he argues, this manifests itself as “a congenital inability to think strategically”."
"Climate law must freeze out vested interests" - Joseph Curtin on agenda- setting in climate change policy - Irish Times - 2 July 2009