Results 121-140 of 1,732 for nama speaker:Michael Noonan

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)

Michael Noonan: It is a matter for NAMA and the officials who have expertise in this area.

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)

Michael Noonan: ...one puts on a three-bed semi detached house in Sligo does not decide the price. It is an indicator to the vendor of what price to accept, but the market decides the price. I do not know why NAMA did not value properties individually. There were many of them there. I do not know the answer. The Deputy should ask NAMA. The absence of a valuation did not change what one would get on the...

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)

Michael Noonan: There are vacancies on boards at many times. NAMA has sufficient for the purposes of-----

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)

Michael Noonan: It is difficult to get people for a board such as NAMA's and I would not fill it with a makeweight appointment.

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)

Michael Noonan: I do not know what the context is. One of my wishes was that NAMA would transfer houses to the local authorities for social housing. Another was that it would build 20,000 houses. Another of my wishes was that-----

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)

Michael Noonan: I have no knowledge of it. Again, it is a question for NAMA.

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)

Michael Noonan: I do not have a view because I do not know the circumstances. It is a matter for NAMA.

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)

Michael Noonan: Does the Deputy mean the independence of NAMA?

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)

Michael Noonan: ...Minister, Peter Robinson, and the deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. I would have been present at meetings of the North-South body where Ministers from all political parties were present. NAMA was always an agenda item. Sometimes it would be just a couple of sentences; other times, a discussion. No one ever attempted to put political pressure on me. Frank Daly says the same. No...

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)

Michael Noonan: It is not a question of agreement or disagreement. There are two conflicting views. The central issue for me is that on all occasions in NAMA transactions, the taxpayer would recover the maximum amount of money. I watched the evidence from the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Frank Daly and the committee’s questions. There seems to me to be an unresolved issue about what the...

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)

Michael Noonan: I am excluded from giving any direction to NAMA on commercial matters. That is where the line is drawn.

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)

Michael Noonan: No and neither did my predecessor. The last direction I issued to NAMA was when negative interest rates came in across Europe and NAMA was unable to carry out its business as originally intended.

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)

Michael Noonan: No. Will the Deputy wait until I finish? When negative interest rates came in across Europe, I issued a directive to NAMA to enable it to change the interest rate basis and introduce a zero-rate interest rate. We can give the Deputy a note on that. That is the kind of primary policy position on which I and my predecessor, Brian Lenihan, issued directions. I understand there have been...

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)

Michael Noonan: ...that the ECB in particular, the European Commission and the rating agencies who would decide whether we would have access to the markets, were constantly referencing the contingent liability of NAMA bonds on the State balance sheet, because we had guaranteed them. As a result of that, from a policy point of view I was interested to see if the NAMA bonds could be redeemed at a faster rate....

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)

Michael Noonan: ...or not and what we could do to improve Ireland's credit rating so that we could source that money. The advice from the rating agencies and the ECB was to reduce the contingent liability of the NAMA bonds on the State balance sheet.

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)

Michael Noonan: ...the impaired assets in Northern Ireland and their disposal might mean in terms of any potential influence on the Northern Ireland economy. The minutes go on:The Minister [that is me] confirmed that NAMA would be a willing seller of its Northern Ireland assets at an appropriate price, having undertaken an appropriate sales process. That is back-referencing what I told the Deputy just a...

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)

Michael Noonan: I have not spoken to anyone from NAMA since the report was issued, but I assume my officials have done so. I ask Ms Nolan to clarify the position.

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)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy will recall that the chairman, Mr. Daly, wrote a lengthy letter to me which coincided with publication of the report. The effect of the letter was to express NAMA's disagreement with the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in certain respects. It was published around the same time as the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. I did have contact in the sense that he wrote...

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)

Michael Noonan: Obviously, I am conscious of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report and his comments on the process. I am also conscious of the evidence given by the Chairman and the chief executive of NAMA. As I have said on a number of occasions, contrary positions have been taken on a number of matters. I think everybody is hoping the Committee of Public Accounts will help to resolve these...

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)

Michael Noonan: I refer the Deputy back to what I quoted from the Act. The board of NAMA has full legal authority to dispose of assets as it sees fit. It follows from that legal authorisation that it would treat different portfolios and sales differently and would have processes that vary to suit the circumstances of the disposal. NAMA had extensive property in London, Dublin, Northern Ireland, regional...