Results 8,081-8,100 of 20,057 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Does PLI pay out dividends to its shareholders every year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: I believe the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan fund owns 78% of the company. I think Mr. Algeo said 88% by mistake.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: I note that. A loan was taken out from PLI's parent company at an interest rate of 9%. That was in 2014. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: When I looked at the summary of the 2018 accounts, and some material attached to them, I was puzzled as to why a loan would be taken out at a 9% interest rate in 2014. If I had wanted to, I would have been able to get a loan at 0.5% interest in 2014. Other entities would also have been able to do that if they had wanted to. Why did the board draw down a loan at a 9% interest rate? It is...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Can Mr. Murphy comment on the 9% interest rate?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: That is not the question I am asking. Does Mr. Algeo not find it extraordinary that an entity would take out a loan at a 9% interest rate at a time when interest rates were at rock bottom or very low? Commercial decisions have to be taken. Mr. Algeo is in the commercial world and knows how it works with the laws of economics. One must try to get the best price. Why did the company go for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: There is a 4% loan as well.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Does Mr. Algeo find that figure for the interest rate very high or burdensome?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Does Mr. Algeo find it an extraordinary rate of interest? This is what I am trying to get to. Money could have been borrowed a lot cheaper at that time.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: At that point, it would not have been appropriate given that interest rates, even on short-term loans, were not 9%. This is the point I am trying to make here. Was Mr. Murphy in the company in 2014?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Does anybody know why this was done?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Can we just find out? The outworkings of this are that almost €25 million in interest was paid to related parties in 2020. Is that correct? To be exact, €24.7 million was paid in interest to related parties in that year.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: They are also receiving 9% interest on the loan.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Whatever way it goes, it is money in the bank. Along with what Mr. Algeo has outlined regarding what the parties are receiving annually, there is also this interest payment on the loans. In 2020, that was €24.7 million. I would count that as a very good return. A lot of people with money on deposit would love to know where they could get 9% interest. It would seem to me to be...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: It increases the transfer of cash, though. Let us not beat around the bush with this. It increases the transfer of cash from Premier Lotteries Ireland and the lottery system to the parent company in the form of this 9% interest rate. Mr. Algeo has not clarified whether he believes this to be an extraordinarily high rate. Anyone who has any knowledge of basic economics would look at this...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: I am telling Mr. Algeo it is extraordinary. I am not a qualified financial adviser but based on common sense, why would I take out a loan at 9% if I could get one for 1%, 2% or 3%? This is a relatively long-term loan. It is an extraordinary transfer of cash that seems to be happening along with the dividends that are being paid. This seems to be an extraordinary transfer, which seems to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: That is okay. The advertisement make the claim over and over again that "90% of National Lottery sales [are] returned to communities". I looked at this, starting off with the ticket sales. We took the year 2021 and also looked back over a number of years. What actually goes back into good causes works out between 27% and 28.5%. In 2021, the national lottery had ticket sales of more than...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: The regulator is funded by €1.5 million and the operator gets €103 million. I have asked members of the public what they believe that means. I do not claim this is scientific but I asked people locally what they thought about the 90% claim and they took it to mean that 90% of all money from ticket sales goes into the community and good causes, as in various environmental,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: PLI is including prize winners and retailers, that is, the supermarkets or wherever the tickets are sold. In my innocence, from the way the advertising is pitched, I took it to mean that 90% was going to community groups and various projects. That is what I believed until recently. I would not take that much interest in the matter but I was surprised to find, when we got the figures and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 19 - Exchequer receipts from National Lottery ticket sales (8 Dec 2022)

Brian Stanley: Yes.