Results 5,441-5,460 of 26,402 for 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) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: It was handed to somebody, through the chair, who had control of it but Mr. Rowntree was not aware of other people's declarations.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Does Mr. Rowntree think that is appropriate?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Will Mr. Rowntree expand on what he means by that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: I accept what Mr. Rowntree says to the effect that conflicts of interest should be an open book. In a "Spotlight" programme shown on 29 February 2016, he said, "It would be fair to say that the information that I witnessed and I heard in NAMA offered commercial opportunity." When he was asked by the presenter, "How valuable would that information have been to a bidder on the Northern...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Given that one of Mr. Rowntree's colleagues had an association with six debtors, who made up 50% of the loan book, and that Mr. Rowntree sat at the meetings with this same individual and given what he just said about the declared conflicts of interest, does he feel a bit let down that the information was not shared with him and others who sat at those meetings?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: When we now know that-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: I am not asking Mr. Rowntree to comment on the behaviour of any individual but on what is now accepted and acknowledged. We had the Minister here last week who was also made aware of conflicts of interest and, as Mr. Rowntree knows, we have the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General which also talks about the conflicts of interest. I will get to those in a few minutes. It has been...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Will Mr. Rowntree bear with me? I want to be specific.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: It is executive summary No. 54. "During NIAC meetings and in annual statements of interests, one external NIAC member, Mr Frank Cushnahan, declared his involvement as an advisor, mainly on a non-fee basis, to six NAMA debtors and to a third party". It goes on to say that when the Comptroller and Auditor General's examination team looked at this, it was estimated that the loans of the six...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: It states here that Mr. Cushnahan did declare an interest in respect of a relationship with six debtors. There may not have been sufficient examination of what that meant but the declaration was made. In the "Spotlight" programme, Mr. Rowntree said there was commercially sensitive information that would be of value to an overall portfolio and that there were things that he witnessed and...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Is it not extraordinary that Mr. Rowntree was not made aware of any of this as a member of the board? I am trying to get at the process. We want to establish whether the processes within NAMA were robust enough to withstand potential breaches of process. When there is a conflict of interest and when a conflict of interest arises, we must make sure in every organisation that there are best...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Does Mr. Rowntree believe that was the right thing to do?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: I thank Mr. Rowntree for his honesty. I want to deal with a related point before coming back to that substantive point. He spoke in his opening statement about being subject to regular training and update discussions on governance. What does he mean by regular training and what did that involve?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Who carried out that training?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: How many times a year was that done?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Were the two external board members part of that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Everybody would have been very aware of their responsibilities.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: If Mr. Rowntree had an association with six debtors who made up 50% of the Project Eagle loan portfolio, he would have known that was a conflict of interest and a problem.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Mr. Rowntree would have resigned?