Results 17,821-17,840 of 26,408 for speaker:David Cullinane
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: There was a board meeting. At the time the debt would have been higher. It was probably €20 million or more.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: It needed to reduce this unsustainable debt. It needed to go to the bank and seek a write-down of the debt. Is that what happened?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: I understand that. IGB had to go to the bank, either because the bank wanted it in or the board needed to deal with the unsustainable debt.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: I appreciate that. Did one meeting or a number of meetings take place to discuss a request for a write-down?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: What was the response from the bank?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: They were ongoing, so it did not refuse a write-down.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: However, it had still not refused it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: There were ongoing discussions about the possibility of a write-down. Did Mr. Creed say he works or did work in the banking sector?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: As Mr. Creed works in the banking sector, he knows that the banks will play hardball and will not show their negotiating hand. There were ongoing discussions on the possibility of a write-down before a decision was made to sell Harold's Cross. Is that not correct?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: That is what I am getting to. Given the board took a decision to sell Harold's Cross, the chances of a write-down from the bank now are pretty slim to none. Would Mr. Creed accept that?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: I would go further than much more difficult and say practically zero because the valuation that has been put in the public domain by the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills essentially wipes out the debt anyway, if that goes through. Is that not true?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: In addition to the Government through the Department of Education and Skills potentially purchasing this land and bailing out essentially a failing organisation, the banks were also let off the hook. Now the bank does not have to give any kind of write-down. Is this sale again letting the bank off the hook?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: I understand that. However, once a decision was made to proceed with selling Harold's Cross, the opportunity of getting a write-down essentially disappeared, which means that the bank no longer needs to consider that option which was under consideration, at least, in the past. The prospect of getting a write-down from the bank is now gone. I have made that point and Mr. Creed has responded.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: Absolutely.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: Sorry.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: I have not made any decisions.
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: I had asked Mr. Creed earlier and he said they had been significantly weakened. He was the one who said that. We all live in the real world. If an organisation has a debt of over €20 million that is a real issue the bank has to deal with. If it wipes out its debt, it is an issue the bank does not have to deal with. Whatever negotiating hand Mr. Creed believes he has, once a...
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: Again, getting straight answers when I put the questions, how many valuations for Harold's Cross were done either by the Department or by the board in recent years and who carried them out?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: On whose behalf did Savills carry out a valuation?
- Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (Resumed) (18 May 2017)
David Cullinane: What was the valuation?