Results 1,321-1,340 of 32,832 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) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: The witness has made a comment now that has been-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Sorry. Just let me ask the question. Who is Ms Nolan referring to that has blown this out of all proportion?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Just one second. I will go back to-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I certainly will let Mr. Reid clarify the point. However, this issue has come up and I do not know how much time I have left to ask questions. These are the difficulties that we work under, unless the Chairman allows me to ask further questions at a later stage. I will stop talking and stop asking questions when my time is up. I have opened up the NAMA issue of Mr. Daly writing to the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Let us put that red herring away because the Comptroller and Auditor General has clarified that. The Department officials have read the transcripts or have watched that meeting.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Subject to the Comptroller and Auditor General coming before the committee, he did not seek expertise on this specific report.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Not for this report. I will let the Comptroller and Auditor General answer.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Whatever about consistency, from my point of view, this is about somebody from the Department of Finance expressing such an opinion as Mr. Reid has done, as captured in this letter. The rest of the report is ignored, including the context of the report, the conflict of interest and the serious concerns around the sales process. Ms Nolan has mentioned competitive tension and so on. The...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Please let me finish the question. Why was there no comment on any of that from Mr. Reid?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Does Mr. Reid accept, as Ms Nolan does, that the concerns raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General are serious concerns on everything that he has highlighted, such as the sales process and the other aspects that I have mentioned?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Does Mr. Reid accept those concerns?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I thought I would be finished in a few minutes, but perhaps not with what is emerging now. Is Mr. Reid saying that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report could have been written differently?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: In relation to NAMA's decisions?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Okay. I will finish on this question. Following Deputy McDonald's question, Mr. Reid confirmed that he wrote Ms Nolan's opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: But he wrote it?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Was he was also the author of the statement of the Minister, Deputy Noonan?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: There is a point to this. It is that they are remarkably similar. I will finish on this. If we look at the paragraph on page ten of Ms Nolan's opening statement, the Minister made the exact same point in his opening statement. Ms Nolan said: "Suggestions that the Minister for Finance should have interfered with NAMA’s commercial decision and called a halt to the board-approved...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I find that extraordinary. Ms Nolan has maintained that on both appearances before the committee. The Minister was fully aware in March 2014, at the very latest, that there were success fees in question and of Mr. Cushnahan's involvement. Ms Nolan and other witnesses have repeatedly stated that Mr. Cushnahan had now departed from the committee so that was the end of that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: I understand that PIMCO clearly confirmed that there was a success fee to be divided between the three parties, that it communicated this to NAMA and that the chairperson of NAMA then telephoned Ms Nolan and the Minister personally. Is that not correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Catherine Connolly: Therefore, the Minister was perfectly aware of the success fees and that a portion of those fees was allegedly going to Mr. Cushnahan.