Results 141-160 of 309 for nama speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (16 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ..., NIAC, and was a very helpful witness for the committee. He spoke about a University of Ulster study carried out into the assets in the North. It was his view at the time that the entire NAMA strategy for the assets in the North was to work out the assets over time and this University of Ulster report was to help in that regard. Specifically, it was mainly to do with residential...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (16 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Mr. McGuinness understands it. Mr. Rowntree would not have been aware of this when he was here but we now know PIMCO did not make a blind approach to NAMA. It did so on the basis of discussions that took place. It was approached by a Mr. Coulter of Tughans legal firm, Brown Rudnick, and also Mr. Frank Cushnahan, who at the time was a board member of the NIAC. We know that is the case and...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (16 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ...as they come in. Mr. McGuinness's opening statement spoke about various combinations of meetings and engagements that took place between the Minister, Deputy Noonan, Northern DUP Ministers, NAMA, Cerberus and PIMCO. We know all sorts of engagements took place and there was one conference call with which Mr. McGuinness was involved with the Minister, Deputy Noonan. My point is there were...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (16 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I wish to ask a question of the deputy First Minister for clarification purposes. When Frank Daly, the chair of NAMA, was before the committee he was questioned a number of times about why NAMA did not move sooner to remove Mr. Cushnahan from his role, he cited political sensitivities. He said:[...] removing Mr. Cushnahan from the committee before his resignation in November 2013 would have...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (16 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ...authorities with an interest in the whole portfolio, it seemed to change the situation. In other words, he said that when PIMCO came on the scene that changed the Executive’s mind about the approach by NAMA? Is that the interpretation of Mr. McGuinness as well?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: That is a good idea. I know we have the NAMA CEO and chairperson coming before us again. However, the response that we have received back from PIMCO contradicts some of what the NAMA board members said when they were here, most specifically, the NAMA legal team and the people who were involved on NAMA's side in those conference calls. There is currently no plan to have them before the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ...up from a number of organisations, this is most important piece of correspondence we have received. It is illuminating and joins up many dots. It clearly contradicts evidence we were given from NAMA. That is very worrying, as it casts doubt on much of what was said to us in the evidence presented by NAMA in respect of what happened when it was made aware of the success or fixer fees....

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ...Tughans, Mr. Frank Cushnahan and Brown Rudnick - it was not specifically in relation to PIMCO and that there were at least three bidders. That raises questions, because one of the narratives from NAMA was that once PIMCO and Cushnahan were out of the game, or once PIMCO was gone at least, that was the end of the matter. That is not the case. We need to know who these three bidders were....

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: We need clarity now on some issues. I will not go over old ground because we want to try to reach some conclusions. When NAMA first attended the committee, it was very strong in its criticism of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the discount rate and his understanding of market values and so on. That softened the last time board members were before the committee, and there...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: It is from 6 November 2013. It was sent from NAMA to the Department of Finance.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: What is interesting about this is that this was in November 2013. It talks about 70% of the North of Ireland's portfolio being completed property and income-producing; that NAMA has approved €140 million in new money advances; a small number of cases had to be enforced in the North; that the agency's enforcement was proportionate to the scale of its exposure in the North and was not...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ...of Ms Nolan's responses extraordinary. I will refer to the last time she was here and what she said. I am trying to get clarity. There has been a sleight of hand regarding the perception that NAMA was portraying regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and his analysis of the change in sales strategy and the discount rates applied. NAMA misrepresented what the Comptroller...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Exactly. However, we have evidence that NAMA gave us in which it referenced discussions between the Department of Finance and the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding the discount rate. We will go back and correct that with NAMA that it never happened.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Yes, and it said some other things. I am trying to avoid NAMA trying to divide and conquer the Department and the Comptroller and Auditor General to justify its analysis of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, which was either a misunderstanding or a distortion of what the report stated. I will get to it, given that it follows logically from the next question. Ms Nolan said:There...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I have to interrupt. I find it incredible. When NAMA was here, we were subject to much discussion about the lack of expertise in the Comptroller and Auditor General's office about how things work and market sales. This is not about whether or not it would have materialised. At a point in time, one arrives at a value, which is based on the value of the assets, income generated from the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Ms Nolan has missed my point entirely. I do not know whether it was deliberate or because she genuinely did not understand what the Comptroller and Auditor General has said. NAMA worked out the value of €1.49 billion that was based on a sales strategy to work out the assets over time by 2020. Not that one would sell them in 2020 but work them out over time. Then there was a...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: NAMA also talked about difficulties with debtors and pressures that justified its change in sales strategy. I do not know whether a briefing note is on the system here but I referred to it this morning. The briefing note is dated 6 November 2013 and the reference No. is 2292015. It was sent by Mr. Martin Whelan of NAMA to Mr. Declan Reid and the NAMA communications team. The note was...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Ms Nolan talked about a different set of pressures, NAMA talked about a different set of pressures but everybody is talking about pressures that NAMA was under to sell. The claim does not stack up, as no evidence has been presented to the board.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: No. It cannot be a theoretical loss because there was a loss. The Comptroller and Auditor General talked us through it this morning. In 2013, NAMA identified a loss of €113 million and I think it booked a loss in 2014, if my memory is correct. Are the tables available on screen?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: ...loss. When the Comptroller and Auditor General is looking at the probable loss, it is in the context of a change in sales strategy. It is in the context of documents that were presented to him by NAMA that did all of the calculations, at the time, in respect of the previous sales strategy. NAMA would have looked at the values of the assets, what one would have got working them out over...