Results 18,321-18,340 of 26,148 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: I want to deal with two items. First, I want to clarify a few points regarding NAMA. Am I correct in saying Dr. Bacon presented his report to the then Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan, on 20 March?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: And the actual report was published on 8 April 2009.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: I think it was 8 April.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does Dr. Bacon stand over his report of 20 March?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does he think it differed in any way from the abridged report that was published on 8 April?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: The report that Deputy Doherty got under freedom of information, which is available on the website, shows that Dr. Bacon was looking at a discount of approximately 22% on all the loans. Is that correct?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: On average. I can quote the figures for each of the institutions. Dr. Bacon was looking at around 22% for AIB, 21% for Anglo and 21% for Bank of Ireland.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: However, when NAMA was actually implemented, the scale of the write downs was, on average, 57%. That is a big leap from an average of 22%. The question is how we got to that point. Dr. Bacon's report that was presented to Government on 20 March 2009 is a very detailed report that specifically goes down through each bank and Dr. Bacon specifically indicates how the €158 billion of...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: But-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: In the limited time I have-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Did Dr. Bacon know when the abridged report was published on 8 April 2009 that the discounts were going to be of the order that they were?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Dr. Bacon has agreed with Deputy Doherty that the €34 billion was in regard to loans of the order of €80 billion, which is very close.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Clearly, Dr. Bacon must have known when the abridged report was published on 8 April-----

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Surely, Dr. Bacon must have known that the discount was going to be of the order of 60%.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: How can Dr. Bacon reconcile the position he gave to Deputy Doherty, where he said €34 billion was in regard to loans of €80 billion, with the position that, when the report was published on 8 April, he did not know the discounts were going to be that high?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: The banks were not solvent.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: My point is that the report Dr. Bacon provided to Government on 20 March is fundamentally different to the report that was published on 8 April.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Professor Ahearne wrote extensively around the time of the guarantee, and stated that he had questions about the information on the quality of loans that was released by the banks. Does he believe that on the night of the guarantee, Anglo Irish Bank should have been allowed to fail? Does he believe that it should have formed part of the guarantee, or not?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: There was no question of looking at how much this would cost or what potential saving could be made for the taxpayer if Anglo Irish Bank had been kept out of the guarantee. Did that aspect ever come up in discussions?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (4 Mar 2015)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is it fair to say that if the State had guaranteed just the deposit holders in Anglo, and not the bondholders, there would have been a significant saving to the taxpayer?