Results 10,801-10,820 of 21,149 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Business of Joint Committee (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I wrote to the Chairman yesterday with a proposal that we invite representatives from the Central Bank to appear before the committee. The Central Bank has published an internal audit report in respect of lack of compliance with State guidelines for public bodies. The report makes for very poor reading on the part of the bank and raises matters of very great concern. I spoke to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: In his opening statement, Mr. Daly makes a lot of play on the absence of preferential treatment by NAMA, the absence of cosy relationships, etc. In light of that, I want to ask him a couple of questions about Project Eagle, the sale of the northern loan portfolio. When was it decided to bundle the properties and sell them in a single lot? Can he recall the date?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Mr. Daly have paperwork or analysis that informed that decision of the board?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: We will come back to that. I merely want to know does NAMA have paperwork and can Mr. Daly provide it to the committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: What I am referring to, specifically, is the decision to have the transaction as one lot. Obviously, NAMA made an analysis of that and the transaction has now occurred. I would like to see the documentation on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, of course. I am asking that Mr. Daly provide the paperwork, the basis upon which NAMA took that decision for a single lot, to the committee. Can Mr. Daly do that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thank Mr. Daly. Is Mr. Daly familiar with the name Mr. David Watters,-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----from RSM McClure Watters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: He is a Belfast accountant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Am I correct in saying his firm, RSM McClure Watters, was a member of a NAMA advisory panel?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I know that. It was on a consultancy panel.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did it ever procure work from NAMA?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is Mr. Daly aware that Mr. Watters claims responsibility for the decision for coming up with the initiative to bundle those properties? Mr. Watters did not refer to it as Project Eagle. It was referred to as "Project Amani", when it was first conceived.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Might it be an idea to correspond with this gentleman to establish the veracity of his claims? He is fairly firm in his view. He wrote to Tughans, the solicitors' firm that we have discussed long and hard, which was involved in the initial Pimco debacle and then, subsequently, in the Cerberus debacle, and he is quite firmly of the view that he did considerable work, and had involved Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I know, but it gets curiouser and curiouser.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Watters says that he involved Mr. Cushnahan, who was very much part of NAMA at the time, to work on the concept. It was called Project Amani. They then approached Mr. Ian Coulter - another name familiar to Mr. Daly - of Tughans who, in turn, approached Brown Rudnick - a man by the name of Mr. Tuvi Keinan who is also known to Mr. Daly. This gentleman then came up with the two names,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: With that in mind, when Mr. Daly appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts his line of argument in respect of Project Eagle was that if there are difficulties and allegations, they all reside on the side of the purchaser. Mr. Daly said NAMA had a clean bill of health.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I take that correction. It is the purchase side. Of course, it subsequently emerged that Mr. Cushnahan, in addition to all of the other controversies surrounding him, had, in fact, had a meeting with PIMCO, the original bidder, while still engaged by NAMA. I know Mr. Daly wrote to Mr. Cushnahan on 19 November 2015 because I have a copy of the letter in front of me. Has he had a response...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is, as a matter of fact. What is the topic?