Results 9,461-9,480 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: That obviously was important for it.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: That did not bother Mr. Long.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not work in Mr. Long’s world so I am working on assumptions. I am assuming for an outfit such as Lazard, credibility and bona fides are its calling cards. Are they?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Lazard’s capacity to hold the rein, to be an honest broker for its client and for its bidders would be essential would it not?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Front and centre but would it be equally fair to say that it relies on bidders trusting it as a fair and transparent agent in any transaction because it has to bid in order for Lazard to sell?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does it bother Mr. Long that it was a bespoke and unique arrangement and that Lazard’s role was very limited, or more limited in NAMA terms, than other transactions at around the same time? Looking at all of these factors, one could come to a conclusion or a suspicion that Lazard was prepared to go along with whatever NAMA suggested. One could be forgiven for thinking that rather...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: That was highly unusual, I will grant Mr. Long that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. Long explain to me what he understands to be “politically sensitive” about project Eagle? He has used that term repeatedly.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: By whom, by Ronnie Hanna?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: How is it? I would like Mr. Long to explain it to me.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The witness cites political sensitivities as a factor. I want to understand what he understood by that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: No, it is the political sensitivity of protecting taxpayers' money. I will return to it in the second round, as I wish to conclude with this. Cerberus, at the highest level, met senior NAMA executives and the Minister for Finance on 31 March, a day before its bid was submitted. What does Mr. Long have to say about that? Was he aware that the meeting took place?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did Fortress similarly meet Mr. Frank Daly and Mr. McDonagh of NAMA and the Minister? Was it afforded the same meeting?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did it have such a meeting?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Who organised that meeting between Cerberus and the people concerned? Does the witness know?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: A sum of £7.5 million ended up in a bank account, let us put it that way.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Lazard website refers to insight, judgment and performance as its calling cards. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is Mr. Long angry that NAMA misled him and kept him in the dark?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am referring to PIMCO’s exit from the process.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: How does Lazard keep itself on the right side of the law? I am sure because it read the report that PIMCO approached NAMA with concerns about the law and compliance with the law here and in Britain. I have a sense that we are discussing the fees which Mr. Long says are standard and we are missing-----