Results 22,101-22,120 of 34,777 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: NAMA was. We will have to go back to the Department of Finance. To put it in a nutshell, if a Government agency, for example, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, was in the marketplace procuring a contract for several hundred million euro and the Minister was to meet the successful bidder the night before the bid was put in, there would be a national outcry. I am just saying it is...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: He would not have known anything about the bid. Of course he would.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: But Mr. Daly can see the actual point. It is my mistake, but I have been informed that I have a gentleman from the Department. Mr. Linehan is very good for staying with us this long.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: His moment has arrived to answer this question.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: To whom?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Yes, that is what I am reading from.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Who was the FOI request to? It was made to a specific individual.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: When was the FOI published? Was it published on the Department's website?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: I am just saying, I know our members are very light at this stage, but I question providing information to one requester under freedom of information and not making it available to the public. Just one citizen has got the information and the other 4 million have not. That is keeping something well under wraps. Is Mr. Linehan now telling me that the Minister had this meeting? The Minister...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Does Mr. Linehan not think it would have been important for this committee to know that the line Minister with responsibility for NAMA met with the main bidder the night before?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: It is quite clear to us that there has been a lot of engagement and many parliamentary questions on these issues and perhaps it was said somewhere but it has not been highlighted.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: There was a meeting around the same time with the First Minister in Northern Ireland as well. Could I request, through Mr. Linehan, a detailed note on the circumstances of the meeting with the Minister? In particular, we want to know why we were not notified about it during the course of inquiries at an earlier stage, or the public were not publicly notified of it over the past two years....

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Was that appropriate?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Is it good practice when such a big transaction is at stake - there is an open competition and a sales agent has been appointed - for the chief executive of the organisation to meet with one of the two final bidders, or to be in discussions with him?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Let us talk about the transparency because NAMA is very keen to ensure there is no reputational damage. Does Mr. McDonagh think it is good for an organisation, from the point of view of its reputation, that such contacts would happen? Does Mr. McDonagh see how people might think that in some way it had an influence on the outcome? I take Mr. McDonagh's word for it that it did not, but does...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: I think it was very unwise to have such meetings.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Or the rugby match in Twickenham, as Mr. McDonagh mentioned in the e-mails.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Could Mr. McDonagh send us the correspondence where he said that? Was it in a phone call or in a text message? I did not spot in the hundreds of e-mails a reference to agreeing to meet people but that NAMA would not discuss the bid. Mr. McDonagh said that was very clear. Is that documented anywhere? I have not seen it in the folder. If Mr. McDonagh has information could he please send...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: If I had seen it I would have referred to it.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: During the bidding process.