Results 22,501-22,520 of 34,778 for speaker:Seán Fleming

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

Seán Fleming: The organisation is stuck with an empty building and it is paying the lease. Is that correct?

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

Seán Fleming: We will note that and note the comments of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Next is the work programme. I gather everyone has the work programme for the coming weeks. We will start with the Comptroller and Auditor General shortly. After that we will hear from officials from the Department of Finance. Next Wednesday, the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Mr. Martin McGuinness,...

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

Seán Fleming: Yes, we can discuss 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)

Seán Fleming: Today the committee will continue its examination of the Comptroller and Auditor General's special report No. 94 on the National Asset Management Agency, or NAMA as it is better known, and its sale of Project Eagle. Project Eagle was the code name given to the sale of NAMA's Northern Ireland loan portfolio. To date, we have met representatives of NAMA, the Minister for Finance, Deputy...

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)

Seán Fleming: We will put the questions to the Comptroller and Auditor General. Obviously, we will write to NAMA for a detailed paragraph-by-paragraph response. We will not all ask the questions that need to be asked because it will have to respond paragraph by paragraph. I want to move on. Can we move on or does the Deputy want to raise anything else? We will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General...

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)

Seán Fleming: I call Deputy McDonald to be followed by Deputy Catherine Murphy.

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)

Seán Fleming: Broker's fee.

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)

Seán Fleming: We are going to conclude on this particular issue. The request so far is to write to Brown Rudnick and Mr. Tuvi Keinan. That is two requests. A request has been made publicly and it has been agreed to invite Mr. Ronnie Hanna to attend. That is three. We will write back to PIMCO to seek clarification on the success fee and the other options issue, as Deputy Catherine Murphy said, and when...

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)

Seán Fleming: I am coming to the Comptroller and Auditor General. He is the next speaker.

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)

Seán Fleming: I propose that the letter be specific. I put it into the public record today because NAMA's evidence has been on the public record. We will write back to NAMA and ask it whether it agrees with the contents of each paragraph. Where it comes to a paragraph on which it disagrees, I want NAMA to explain where it disagrees because at the end of our work we will have this on the record and if we...

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)

Seán Fleming: In fairness to Mr. Stewart, PIMCO quote him a couple of times.

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)

Seán Fleming: I want to say this in order that members will remember. Mr. Alan Stewart is a senior divisional solicitor with NAMA and he was before the committee recently.

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)

Seán Fleming: In light of the fact that we want to follow up information, we wrote to Fortress recently because it was the only bidder left standing with Cerberus. We have written to Fortress asking a couple of issues, namely, how Fortress became aware of sale of Project Eagle, how Fortress became involved in the process, the basis on which Fortress made its bid, its rationale for making a bid before 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)

Seán Fleming: We have to complete it. Fortress was the only bidder at the table at the end of the process other than the successful bidder. We need to hear from them. We have written to them in recent times.

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)

Seán Fleming: Maybe the Deputy missed the very beginning of the 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)

Seán Fleming: She had to go to the Dáil Chamber.

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)

Seán Fleming: I read the letter into the public record. Mr. Rice stated that because of the National Crime Agency investigation, as well as investigations in the US, and to avoid taking any action which might prejudice the investigation, he had to respectfully decline the invitation to send a representative of PIMCO to the committee. However, he gave a very comprehensive reply to the letter.

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)

Seán Fleming: However, he has declined.

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)

Seán Fleming: In the interest of fairness, we read the letter into the record. I have not accepted or rejected a single sentence of it. I said we will write to NAMA and ask them paragraph by paragraph to agree or disagree with the letter. We might find 90% of it is agreed by both sides. Then we will have to adjudicate on their points of difference.

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)

Seán Fleming: Tom Rice has declined.