Results 6,101-6,120 of 34,779 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Jan 2014)

Seán Fleming: On a point of information, I was Chairman of a committee during the previous Dáil. Many committees commence their meetings in private session and the transcript starts in public session. There was confusion. As Chairman of that committee, I listened to the audio tapes with the clerk across the road in Kildare House to clarify what was stated by various members in private session. 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: I thank the ladies and gentlemen for being here today. I know they have provided context and background but there is something of interest that I have not yet seen published. It is the good news bit before I get to the rest of this. When the 215 affordable houses were sold to people at affordable prices, what was the total amount received with respect to the €31 million value? A...

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 total.

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: What year was that, as the value changed every year?

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: What was achieved when they were sold?

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 know what "discount" means in this context. I just want to know what were the sale proceeds. The State acquired, in a timely manner, the 215 affordable houses, and I laud that. They were sold to people on the housing list in south Dublin. How much was received for the sale of the 215 housing units? I am sure some of them were apartments.

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 developer got the proceeds of 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: I have listened for a few minutes and nobody has referred to what I would see as a basic element of this transaction. I assumed the developer got the €31 million to pay for the cost of building the houses which the State got. Ms Tallon is telling me now that the developer got paid in full - the figure is €45 million or thereabouts - when the houses were sold. What was 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: 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.