Results 28,761-28,780 of 34,885 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I understand that. I should point out, to the Comptroller and Auditor General as well, that I got no sense from reading the chapter, the opening statements or the documentation provided that Durkan New Homes got €76 million. It got €45 million from the proceeds of the housing units and €31 million from the Department-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Explain it to me.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: The witness is saying that the Department is paying €31 million in lieu of Durkan New Homes not getting the site in Harcourt Terrace.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I do not mean to be critical, but I did not get the basic picture from any of the reports. It is probably eminently understandable to everybody on the witness's side of the table, but there was no mention of this €45 million being paid to the developer. Okay, he built them for the price, which turned out to be €200,000 per housing unit. That was probably reasonable value, but...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Okay. The Comptroller and Auditor General said in his opening remarks in July 2012 that the High Court awarded €32.6 million. The final sentence in that paragraph was that the final bill for the firm's legal costs was still awaited. Has the Department got the final figure yet?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: When does the witness expect it? Have there been any discussions since this report was issued last September?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I refer to the opening paragraph of the judgment by Mr. Justice Charlton delivered on 5 July 2012 in the case of Durkan New Homes v. Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. That paragraph states that in 2006 the site on Harcourt Terrace comprising the film censor's office and the Garda station on 0.87 of an acre was valued at €17.7 million. That was at the height...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: This is in Judge Charlton's opening sentence in his judgment. We will leave aside what the witness, developer or Chief State Solicitor's office thinks. The judge has the final word on this and he is giving those values. At the best possible value, he says it was €17.7 million. A key body that is not represented here today and which remarkably is mentioned several times in the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: We know that. I am not being rude, but I know all that. Even the OPW had the value of the site at €17 million in its heyday.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: The 215 houses were delivered and the builder received €45 million.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I compliment the Department on getting the houses.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: It was valued at €17 million and ended up costing the taxpayer €31 million.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: That is what I told the witness five minutes ago.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: We will not go there. We are just dealing with the chapter-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: We will deal with the chapter from the Comptroller and Auditor General. We know the background and that the tender received was the best. That is fine. The Comptroller and Auditor General starts with the High Court judgment. There are a couple of issues, because this chapter hinges on the High Court judgment, and the judge had the final word. It is a very short chapter. There is one...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: I detect what is essentially a code word. The witness is saying she acted in good faith having regard to the advices. She appears to be pointing the finger at her legal advisers. To whom is she referring when she says that in the paragraph?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: So the witness was not happy with-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: The Chief State Solicitor's office was the OPW's legal adviser. Who was the Department's legal adviser during this or who was the Affordable Homes Partnership's legal adviser?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Did the Department have any advisers in this?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Land Swap Arrangement in the Provision of Affordable Houses
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: Unusually, the judge refers to the Chief State Solicitor's office several times in his judgment. In paragraph 15 he says that the Chief State Solicitor's office objected to a final transfer. What is curious about the judgment, and this chapter emanates from that, is that the Affordable Homes Partnership - this is from paragraph 18 of the judgment, which might not be before the Committee of...