Results 7,901-7,920 of 8,081 for speaker:Peter Burke

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Either there is or there is not. It is black and white. We are getting mixed reports about tenders and who did or did not do something. It is very clear that there either is or is not an evaluation of other options in terms of this strategy.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Does Mr. Daly accept that this puts the Comptroller and Auditor General in a difficult position? I am not speaking for him but if the discussions NAMA had are not outlined clearly in the minutes it is difficult to formulate a detailed response to that. The processes are not in place, and this is consistent throughout all of this. The record keeping for major decisions appears to be very poor.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: In fairness, I am not discussing the discount rate at present. My question is specific. The witness says there was discussion about whether these should be sold individually or in bulk. Is that documented at board level in the minutes?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Is there a "Yes" or "No" answer to that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: To be fair, I am familiar with cash flows. I am an accountant by trade. I wish to clarify the board minutes. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report is very clear that no evaluation of other options was discussed, in terms of the strategy. The witness is saying that, detailed in board minutes, options were discussed. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Is it "Yes" or "No"?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: So it is in the board minutes.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: I cannot get evidence from talking to the witness that it was documented, so I will move on. I refer to evidence to support NAMA's assertion that a fractious relationship was building with its Northern Ireland debtors. What is meant by that and what evidence is there to suggest it? These were non-performing loans in the majority of cases. What is meant by the difficult or political...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: I will move on to Lazard and its engagement with NAMA. This obviously is a very narrow focus in my view, just from reading the report, but in terms of NAMA's engagement with it in terms of the initial briefing it gave, there does not seem to be written evidence of it. Why is this?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Just to be clear because I am getting confused on this, does NAMA have a written brief that it gave Lazard? It is a "Yes" or "No" answer.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: But there is no explicit brief between both.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Again, what we are hearing back and forth is that a lot of discussions were allegedly taking place, but it is very hard for us looking in to assess them when there seems to be a huge lack of documentation to back up these discussions. It concerns me that the record-keeping throughout the whole process seems to be very poor. I do not think that is acceptable for such a high-level...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: In terms of Project Arrow, the report contains a comparison in terms of the information that was available to it. I think there were 2,800 documents for 850 properties for Project Eagle in comparison to 22,000 documents for 1,900 properties for Project Arrow. The whole information process seems to be very exclusive from that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: Was there a reason for that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: I want to focus on the discount rate. In terms of property sales in NAMA, prior to Project Eagle how often was a 10% rate used? We have set out the policy in terms of the 5.5% rate, but Mr. McDonagh said there was flexibility. How often was this flexibility exercised?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: If he could when he is answering, will Mr. McEnery give a flavour of the type of properties that had a 5.5% discount rate so we can get a comparison?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: I wish to apologise as I have another committee meeting that is taking place at the same time. I compliment the Minister of State on his work. I wish to raise the rural areas in south Westmeath and other rural areas that are affected by flooding. Has a cost benefit analysis been published in respect of the various proposed works that are intended to be carried out? It has been said at...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Aid Applications (29 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: 66. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will expedite an application for free legal aid for a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28019/16]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Policy (28 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: 244. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if counties Longford and Westmeath will be excluded from the development of a lakelands tourism strategy by Fáilte Ireland despite being in possession of a prime location and geographical relevance to the brand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27570/16]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Tourism Policy (28 Sep 2016)

Peter Burke: 245. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason County Longford would be included in Ireland's Ancient East tourism strategy when it is not in proximity to the east, shares limited cultural traits to the trail and especially at a time when a lakelands strategy is in development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27571/16]