Results 23,281-23,300 of 34,778 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: We will certainly come back to this topic. Will the Comptroller and Auditor General be covering the fund in the Caranua organisation as part of the review?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: We are agreed on that. We will certainly come back to it. The next item is the work programme. Essentially we have agreed it. The Department of Social Protection is the only entity that has been scheduled for a normal meeting which will take place next Thursday. The Revenue Commissioners were here this morning. As there is no other business we will suspend briefly to allow the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 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. We have already had meetings with Comptroller and Auditor General on...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: I thank Mr. Rowntree. The procedure is that members of the committee who have indicated will put some questions to Mr. Rowntree and, hopefully, he will be able to answer as best he can from his own direct knowledge. Members indicated in the following sequence: Deputy Cullinane; Deputy Catherine Murphy; Deputy Kelly; and Deputy Connolly. I call Deputy Cullinane.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Yes, it is on its way.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: We will move on to the next questioner.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: When Mr. Rowntree gave that response I smiled at the thought of NAMA being in a property for several years of one of its biggest debtors. I find that funny in terms of its head office.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Mr. Rowntree made a reference to the report of the University of Ulster which had been commissioned by NAMA and other banks. It was not a project commissioned by NAMA.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Mr. Rowntree received a presentation-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Did Mr. Rowntree receive copies of the report to take away?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Before we go, did Deputy Catherine Murphy indicate?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Deputy Catherine Murphy has not contributed yet. I apologise, Deputy David Cullinane has indicated next. My mistake. I ask Mr. Rowntree to clarify one thing he has mentioned quite a bit in the "Spotlight" programme, namely, that NIAC members had access to information of a commercially-sensitive nature and which offered commercial opportunities. That is the point he has been making all...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Yes. On several occasions, Frank Daly stated to this committee and to the Northern Ireland Assembly committee that external members of the NIAC did not gain any confidential information or any useful insider information from being a member of that advisory committee.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Mr. Rowntree is reiterating that. On the face of it, two different statements appear to flatly contradict each other and I am wondering if they do. We will put this question to Mr. Daly. Is it possible that, as Mr. Rowntree said, he got commercially sensitive information and it represented a commercial opportunity? We will put it to Mr. Daly that from his point of view maybe he is talking...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Does Mr. Rowntree get the subtle distinction?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: It is quite possible Mr. Frank Daly might say, "Yes, you had this general information, and yes, you saw the report, but you did not have any debtor sensitive information".

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Would one be right in saying that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: Would Mr. Rowntree slow down and repeat that for me?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: It is possible but on the face of it, it does not look like it.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: I am not analysing.