Results 12,181-12,200 of 20,094 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I ask Mr. O'Kelly to revert to PPPs for a moment. I outlined the situation with the convention centre. As I understand it, the total cost to the State for it was €416 million. That was just the State's contribution. There was a partnership with the Spencer Dock Development Company. The total cost to the State hit €416 million, but the assessment afterwards was that it could...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: In most cases, the taxpayer is taking the risk. The broadband scheme was not called a public private partnership but it is one. I would argue that it is a very bad one in light of the financial aspects and taxpayers' liability. Would the NTMA agree that, in light of what the taxpayer has ponied up and what is being put forward by the private entity in terms of the overall cost, the risk to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: This model is known as a gap model but many of us did not know the gap would be so great. The contribution from the private entity is to be between €250 million and €290 million, while the taxpayer is to put up €2.7 billion to €2.8 billion. This is a PPP although it has a different name, the gap model. I do not know where that name came from. It is exposing the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I will revert to the issue of the escrow account for a moment. The NTMA has outlined what has happened there very clearly, including in the documentation it has supplied. The value of the account has dropped by approximately €36 million. From the public's point of view and from the point of view of members of the committee, as laypeople, that is a concern. While, in the greater...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I accept that. Could I just clarify-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I will ask Mr. O'Kelly to confirm his clarification so that we can be absolutely clear. I expected that would be the explanation. It is fair enough. I just wanted to clarify it for the public. The public will see this depreciation in the value of these funds. To be absolutely clear, Mr. O'Kelly is saying that there is no avenue whereby that €14.02 billion could have been protected...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I will ask a very brief question on the debt. It is high. I understand it stands at €241 billion or €242 billion at the moment. In answer to an earlier question, if I picked this up correctly, it was said that the average interest rate on that debt is approximately 1.5%.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: We know that borrowing is very low at the moment. The NTMA has provided the figures. That is welcome. I know the NTMA has been refinancing a lot of that debt. Is it possible to refinance further big chunks in order to further reduce the amount of interest accruing every year? Is that possible in the coming years?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: That is welcome. Does Mr. O'Kelly have a ballpark figure for the annual interest bill on that debt at the moment?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: How much are repayments relating to the bank bailout costing the Exchequer and the taxpayer each year? Does Mr. O'Kelly have the figures from 2019 and 2020 in his head? Does he know what the figure is likely to be this year? Does he have a figure for even one of the years?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I would love to see it isolated.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to come in briefly on that because that sum of money is something that grates with people.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapters 15 and 16
2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - Chapter 16
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: If there are 2 million households in the State, that can be divided to get the average cost per household to repay that debt. I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General. That clarifies the matter. We have covered a lot of ground. I believe we have reached the end of the questions. As the NTMA has a broad remit, its representatives have had to do a lot of preparation for this meeting. I...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Before continuing with the agenda of the meeting, I propose that we briefly go into private session to deal with some housekeeping matters before resuming in public session. Is that agreed? Agreed. I thank members.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: The business before us is the minutes, accounts and financial statements, correspondence, work programme and any other business. The first item is the minutes of meetings of 28 and 30 September, which were circulated to members. Do members wish to raise any matters? Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. As usual, the minutes will be published on the committee's web page. The next matter...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Does anyone wish to raise an issue around the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and those accounts?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Some of those will be addressed as part of the six early invites. Perhaps Mr. McCarthy will recap on the four Votes whose non-compliant procurement was in excess of €5 million each.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Those matters have been flagged as substantial. I call on members to keep an eye on this matter. We must keep those in our programme, going forward.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: We will have representatives of that Department in early course.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (Resumed) (7 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: We need to work those consultations into the programme. We will be reviewing this again in another six weeks, at the end of November or the start of December. We will be setting out a programme for the remainder of the year and into January. Can we agree the statements of accounts? Agreed. I thank Mr. McCarthy. The next item is correspondence. I want to change the order because...