Results 901-920 of 32,837 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: No, my question is whether Mr. Soffe disagrees with Mr. Rowntree.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Good, that is okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Regarding Lazard, which was appointed in January 2014 and which was given a verbal briefing on the sales process, is it correct that there was no written document?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: NAMA did not give Lazard a written document. It was a verbal briefing. Okay. The Comptroller and Auditor General has raised concerns in terms of NAMA's reliance on the assurance from Lazard. Today, NAMA has relied on that again. Mr. Soffe in particular has come back and said that Lazard reassured NAMA that the process was-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Okay. NAMA never told Lazard that PIMCO had withdrawn in the circumstances in which it had withdrawn.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Well PIMCO certainly did not go away quietly because we are talking about it now in 2016. Let us deal with this issue for a moment. NAMA was relying on Lazard's assurance. The Comptroller and Auditor General said that the latter was a limited assurance in light of the information available to Lazard. Does Mr. Soffe have a difficulty with that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Mr. Soffe is not listening to my question. The Comptroller and Auditor General has raised an issue regarding the nature of the assurance given by Lazard and he said that Lazard had only limited information. Does Mr. Soffe accept that concern?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: How could one possibly rely on an assurance where one has given limited information and where one knows PIMCO has withdrawn? NAMA has come back and told us even today that it was reassured by that assurance. Are the witnesses-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I am no expert but to me, and I am sure to the ordinary person watching or listening, I am not reassured. Mr. Ellingham gives limited information to get precisely the answer he wants, which is reassurance that the competition is competitive when there is only one remaining bidder.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: It could well be, but this is not a normal situation. NAMA is now aware that there were success fees and it still does not pass that information on to Lazard.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Mr. McEnery has said that, and the clock is against me. I will conclude on two matters. PIMCO had already set the price in a range of €1.1 million to €1.3 million and, magically, NAMA's price is very similar. The Comptroller and Auditor General said it had no valuation. None of the witnesses has dealt with that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Let me finish. They did not deal with it in their ten page submission. They did not deal with the fact that there was a strategic change of plan, and all the Comptroller and Auditor General is saying is that he did not see the justification for that change in plan laid out in the documents he examined. Indeed, the witnesses have attempted to conflate and confuse. I will read what the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Great.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I have asked Mr. McEnery to deal with what the Comptroller and Auditor General raised. He has not dealt with a single question. Our time is limited, and he is quoting from a section 227 report. The Comptroller and Auditor General simply said there was a strategic change of plan, and there is no evidence in the contemporaneous papers that he examined to justify that change of plan. That is...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Mr. McEnery is still not dealing with the question.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: That is right. That is why NAMA sold it off.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: It confirmed that in a letter to the Minister where it stated that the Government was under pressure regarding the senior bond date, and this had to be sold.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: That was the driving force.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I shall ask a number of brief questions for clarification purposes. Page 5 of Mr. Soffe's opening statement reads: "I share the concern of the NAMA Chairman that the C&AG ignored the independent market advice". Can Mr. Soffe outline the circumstances? I think four firms gave advice.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Was the advice given after the event?