Results 5,801-5,820 of 26,408 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) (16 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I welcome the deputy First Minister to today's hearing. He will be aware that we have held many hearings and heard from many witnesses, including the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, the NAMA chairman, Mr. Frank Daly, Mr. Brian Rowntree, an external member of the NIAC, and officials from the Department of Finance. We are trying to establish the facts as the people who appear before us...

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 accept that-----

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 has put that on the record, so we know there were tensions in respect of the Maze site and other issues. That is fine and we understand that. What I am trying to understand is, if Mr. McGuinness believed that he was locked out of important meetings to do with this loan sale under Project Eagle - which were not about the Maze - surely he would have given consideration to the...

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: But asking oneself the question-----

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 am sorry, but asking oneself the question and asking the question of those who were excluding one are two different things. Did Mr. McGuinness put questions to anyone in the DUP, be it the then Minister for Finance and Personnel or Mr. McGuinness' colleague, the former First Minister? Mr. McGuinness asked himself a question, but did he ask those individuals about why he had been excluded?

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: But the question I was asking was not about that. I appreciate that important point but, in his opening statement, Mr. McGuinness referenced a number of times - in fact, almost his entire opening statement centred around this issue - engagements and meetings of which he was not aware. We are trying to understand this from our perspective. Regardless of what might be in Mr. McGuinness'...

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: The witness has clarified that. Mr. Rowntree was the second external member of the Northern Ireland advisory committee, 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...

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: I want to bring it back to what Mr. McGuinness knew. We will speak to those individuals 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...

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: The second point I wanted clarification on relates to when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, was before the committee. He responded to questions from Deputy Alan Kelly about the change in the sale strategy from the asset base one to the loan sale one. Deputy Alan Kelly asked:Does the Minister accept that the Executive suddenly changed tack? From being worried about a fire sale, it...

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 thank Mr. McGuinness.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Rent Controls (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: 40. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to introduce an amendment to the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill to provide for rent certainty in view of the recent data from a company (details supplied) which shows ever increasing rental costs. [35439/16]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I am not interested in doing so at all. I agree it is important to obtain clarification from the Controller and Auditor General on a number of items of correspondence we have got to determine whether the information is new to him. The Fortress letter states that the bid process requires an unconditional bid that "could not be syndicated or financed pre-bid".

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Perfect. Are we in public session?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Could we also get clarification from the Comptroller and Auditor General as to whether he was aware, before the PIMCO letter emerged last week, that Tughans, Brown Rudnick and Frank Cushnahan approached PIMCO?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Perfect.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: With respect, it is important for us to establish whether the Comptroller and Auditor General now has new information that he did not have when he produced his report. He had access to lots of information we did not have. I want to get clarification on a number of issues. Was the information new to him? The first element was that Fortress learned of the sale through the press. Was this...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: In terms of the Cerberus opening statement that the Comptroller and Auditor General would not be able to come back in later, it indicated that it made the unsolicited approach or, sorry, that-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I welcome the witnesses and thank them for attending. I want to check a number of facts in terms who was on the board at what time so that I am clear when putting my questions. Were all three witnesses on the board at the time of the board meeting in October 2013, at which a portfolio sale was initially considered?