Results 21,301-21,320 of 27,087 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) (10 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: We need clarity now on some issues. I will not go over old ground because we want to try to reach some conclusions. When NAMA first attended the committee, it was very strong in its criticism of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the discount rate and his understanding of market values and so on. That softened the last time board members were before the committee, and there...

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: It is from 6 November 2013. It was sent from NAMA to the Department of Finance.

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: It is 229/2013. The secretariat gave me a copy of it earlier. Is the Comptroller and Auditor General aware of that document?

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: What is interesting about this is that this was in November 2013. It talks about 70% of the North of Ireland's portfolio being completed property and income-producing; that NAMA has approved €140 million in new money advances; a small number of cases had to be enforced in the North; that the agency's enforcement was proportionate to the scale of its exposure in the North and was not...

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: The Chairman is missing the point completely.

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: We will ask that. My point is that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report talks about the potential loss of €190 million. That is based on the fact that, in his view, it had worked out the assets.

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: NAMA's only reference to a 10% discount rate was in those annual accounts in 2013 and 2014. It was generic.

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: I welcome the witnesses. I found some of Ms Nolan's responses extraordinary. I will refer to the last time she was here and what she said. I am trying to get clarity. There has been a sleight of hand regarding the perception that NAMA was portraying regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and his analysis of the change in sales strategy and the discount rates applied. NAMA...

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: Exactly. We have absolute clarity that there was never any discussion between the Department of Finance and the Comptroller and Auditor General's office about the discount rate. It never took place.

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: Exactly. However, we have evidence that NAMA gave us in which it referenced discussions between the Department of Finance and the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding the discount rate. We will go back and correct that with NAMA that it never happened.

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: It was discussions between the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Department.

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: It did, and I will come to it later.

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: Yes, and it said some other things. I am trying to avoid NAMA trying to divide and conquer the Department and the Comptroller and Auditor General to justify its analysis of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, which was either a misunderstanding or a distortion of what the report stated. I will get to it, given that it follows logically from the next question. Ms Nolan said:There...

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: I am very conscious of the clock. The question is about the probable loss. Ms Nolan said she had a difficulty with it given that it is not a loss that someone is willing to pay. This is not something the Comptroller and Auditor General would disagree with and he does not argue against it. I am trying to get Ms Nolan to accept that the probable loss of the €190 million is in...

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: I have to interrupt. I find it incredible. When NAMA was here, we were subject to much discussion about the lack of expertise in the Comptroller and Auditor General's office about how things work and market sales. This is not about whether or not it would have materialised. At a point in time, one arrives at a value, which is based on the value of the assets, income generated from 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)

David Cullinane: Ms Nolan has missed my point entirely. I do not know whether it was deliberate or because she genuinely did not understand what the Comptroller and Auditor General has said. NAMA worked out the value of €1.49 billion that was based on a sales strategy to work out the assets over time by 2020. Not that one would sell them in 2020 but work them out over time. Then there was a...

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: Yes.

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: I refer to all of the difficulties that the Department talked about.

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: NAMA also talked about difficulties with debtors and pressures that justified its change in sales strategy. I do not know whether a briefing note is on the system here but I referred to it this morning. The briefing note is dated 6 November 2013 and the reference No. is 2292015. It was sent by Mr. Martin Whelan of NAMA to Mr. Declan Reid and the NAMA communications team. The note was...

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: I understand.