Results 2,681-2,700 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: My understanding from Mr. Daly's contribution was that he was defending a position of not having a totally new sales process once PIMCO withdrew and not re-advertising and starting from scratch. That was my understanding of it. Mr. Daly also said that all credible bidders were considered in the process, so it seems to me that there was sufficient competitive tension in the competitive...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: I set out my position when this matter was debated in the Dáil in June. As I said, I have full confidence in the Comptroller and Auditor General and his office. I have great respect for them. The Comptroller and Auditor General was conducting a value for money report. I would have thought that in the normal course of events, the report would be discussed by the Committee of Public...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: I was not inclined either, but I thought I said in the course of the debate-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: -----that we could return to the position as issues evolved. What I am saying is I did not rule it out absolutely. If I had decided to go to the Government and advise the Taoiseach and other Ministers to have a commission of inquiry, I presume the Deputy would have been telling me that I was interfering with the legitimate role of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Committee of...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: I have not spoken to anyone from NAMA since the report was issued, but I assume my officials have done so. I ask Ms Nolan to clarify the position.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy will recall that the chairman, Mr. Daly, wrote a lengthy letter to me which coincided with publication of the report. The effect of the letter was to express NAMA's disagreement with the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in certain respects. It was published around the same time as the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. I did have contact in the sense that he wrote...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: Obviously, I am conscious of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and his comments on the process. I am also conscious of the evidence given by the Chairman and the chief executive of NAMA. As I have said on a number of occasions, contrary positions have been taken on a number of matters. I think everybody is hoping the Committee of Public Accounts will help to resolve these...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: I refer the Deputy back to what I quoted from the Act. The board of NAMA has full legal authority to dispose of assets as it sees fit. It follows from that legal authorisation that it would treat different portfolios and sales differently and would have processes that vary to suit the circumstances of the disposal. NAMA had extensive property in London, Dublin, Northern Ireland, regional...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: No, but-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: In effect, the Deputy is asking me to speak for NAMA and explain-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: I think the Deputy's questions should be addressed to NAMA. I cannot look inside the heads of the people in NAMA who decided this was the best way forward, or the board of NAMA. All I can do is examine the record. It seems that it was a credible process, but there are other views.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: No. That is concise. The Act states NAMA must get best value for the taxpayer.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: Obviously, the considerations of the taxpayer are centred in the Act. They are not centred entirely in my office, but I do not have responsibility for them.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: No.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: That is not what my officials said. What I said was I am specifically excluded, as all committee members are and every other politician, in either jurisdiction, from interfering or advising or influencing the commercial decisions of NAMA.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: On top of that-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: I agree with the Deputy that I have the power to direct.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: No, but I do not have the right to intervene in a way that the Deputy might regard as appropriate either.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: No.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Michael Noonan: That is not my position. I did not use - appropriate is not my view. It would be illegal.