Results 20,621-20,640 of 26,430 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: 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 Education and Skills: Minor Works Scheme (15 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: 212. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the minor works grant for a school (details supplied) is due to be paid in November 2016; if his attention has been drawn to the concern the uncertainty is causing in relation to the staff, students and parents of the school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34511/16]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: That is a good idea. I know we have the NAMA CEO and chairperson coming before us again. However, the response that we have received back from PIMCO contradicts some of what the NAMA board members said when they were here, most specifically, the NAMA legal team and the people who were involved on NAMA's side in those conference calls. There is currently no plan to have them before the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Once the Cathaoirleach reads it into the record, if there are further questions for PIMCO-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: We might want PIMCO to clarify some matters and we should be in a position to ask those questions.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Perfect.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Will we be discussing the legal opinion we received on whether the sales process could have been suspended?

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)

David Cullinane: On the follow up from a number of organisations, this is most important piece of correspondence we have received. It is illuminating and joins up many dots. It clearly contradicts evidence we were given from NAMA. That is very worrying, as it casts doubt on much of what was said to us in the evidence presented by NAMA in respect of what happened when it was made aware of the success or...

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)

David Cullinane: My party cannot be accused of that. There is an important point to be made as well that should not be lost on us in this response where it says that when this project was conceived - we now know it was not conceived by PIMCO and it was conceived by all these players, that is, Mr. Coulter, Tughans, Mr. Frank Cushnahan and Brown Rudnick - it was not specifically in relation to PIMCO and 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)

David Cullinane: Mr. Stewart, Mr. Soffe.

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)

David Cullinane: As a follow up to that, I ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to also clarify what he means by "lower costs of capital".