Results 14,101-14,120 of 20,884 for speaker:Alan Kelly

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)

Alan Kelly: But it was referencing the Department.

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)

Alan Kelly: I must move on, unfortunately, but some of my colleagues or I will come back to this point later. I have a number of other questions. That to me opens up a whole other can of worms with regard to issues. I am sure the Minister will agree it is quite unfortunate that this document was leaked four days before it was due to be published. Will the Minister offer any observations as to how...

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)

Alan Kelly: Yes, four days beforehand.

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)

Alan Kelly: It is a pretty scary situation that somehow this information was leaked four days before it was to be published.

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)

Alan Kelly: Fair enough. Can the Minister establish some facts with regard to how he and the Department interacted with NAMA? How often would his Department meet with NAMA and how were those meetings documented?

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)

Alan Kelly: Run of the mill?

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)

Alan Kelly: Yes, but I am asking whether Mr. Reid is satisfied that all documentation to do with this matter was clear. We have already encountered an issue with a lack of detailed documentation. I am trying to establish whether we have a similar issue regarding what we will be discussing in the next few hours.

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)

Alan Kelly: I am not asking about the loan sale process.

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)

Alan Kelly: I know that. I took that the first time it was said, but I am not asking about that. I am asking about whether correspondence, phone calls and everything else that passed between the Department and NAMA were documented.

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)

Alan Kelly: Regarding Project Eagle, it seems obvious from the documentation that was sent to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, from the then Minister of Finance in Northern Ireland, which had been sent on by Brown Rudnick, before our Minster sent it to NAMA that there was a concern about a fire sale of assets in Northern Ireland. Obviously, we would be sensitive to that. Northern Ireland is not just any...

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)

Alan Kelly: Does the Minister accept that the Executive suddenly changed tack? From being worried about a fire sale, it was suddenly the case - perhaps across the political spectrum, but certainly on behalf of a number of politicians, including the Minister of Finance, the First Minister, etc. - that the Executive was a big advocate of the process that eventually materialised. It was a big change.

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)

Alan Kelly: Was the Minister aware that the then First Minister, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Coulter and Mr. Cushnahan met PIMCO in early 2013? If so, when was he made aware? This change stemmed from it.

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)

Alan Kelly: I know.

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)

Alan Kelly: But the Minister would have been privy to the phone calls and letters-----

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)

Alan Kelly: -----and he would have known that there had been a seismic change.

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)

Alan Kelly: We will be here for a while. There is a pathway from the meeting to which I referred to the sale of Project Eagle, over which there are many question marks. Regarding section 10 of the NAMA Act, the sale of assets and the legal requirement that NAMA get best value, would it not be fair to say that the Northern Ireland portfolio was no normal group of properties? For many reasons and...

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)

Alan Kelly: The Minster was in conversation with them. He referred to a number of phone calls on this matter. The then First Minister thanked the Minister personally after the sale. I am paraphrasing, but he wanted to thank the Minister for the positive way in which the latter had dealt with the matter.

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)

Alan Kelly: He is. We must get both sides of the conversation.

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)

Alan Kelly: That is a very good point.

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)

Alan Kelly: Fair enough, and we will get the other side of those stories when they appear before the committee. Did it not sound odd to the Minister at the time that PIMCO withdrew? NAMA representatives have said that they got PIMCO to withdraw, but PIMCO is of a different view. Granted this was a difficult and busy time in the Government as there were ongoing issues regarding charities and the Garda...