Results 161-180 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: No. What I am saying is that under the Act, it is a matter for NAMA to make a commercial decision on how it disposes of any property, and it is authorised under the Act to do it in whole or in part, and it must decide whether it is doing it in small bundles of property or to put the totality to market. I assume that when it got the offer from PIMCO originally, which did not go direct to...

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, what I am saying is that there is a difference of opinion. I am giving the Deputy a new context which I do not think has been brought before the committee before as to why there was pressure on NAMA to expeditiously sell the portfolio, as it was instructed to under the Act. The pressure was not from Northern Ireland, and I think those who framed the Act-----

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: ...is framed. On the other side of it, I freely admit that there is a difference of opinion between the Comptroller and Auditor General's view on the process, the timeline and the discount rate and NAMA's view, and that results in a different estimation of value. I cannot-----

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: ...but also to be specifically excluded from any sort of involvement, benign or otherwise, in commercial decisions. The Department assists the Minister but does most of the relationship work with NAMA and advises me on the issues which are within my remit. On the commission of inquiry which the Government has decided to set up, this has resulted from discussions between the party leaders...

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 was in the NAMA board paper originally, but it is well qualified.

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 simply saying there is a difference of opinion between himself and NAMA, and one of the central points is the appropriateness of the discount 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: No, let me answer. I do not know anything about Mr. Cushnahan. His appointment arose from a recommendation by the Northern Ireland Minister of Finance, Sammy Wilson, to NAMA. The board of NAMA appointed him as one of two advisers on Northern Ireland. Normally, decisions in Northern Ireland are cross-party, because that is the way the Northern Ireland Executive worked. However, no one...

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: ...to Frank Cushnahan's resignation or discussions on the circumstances of his resignation. What was communicated to me was that the ethics committee in PIMCO in the United States had informed NAMA that money was going to be paid, about to be paid or promised to be paid and Mr. Cushnahan was one of the people who was alleged to have been a possible recipient.

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: This guy had resigned. I did not know anything about him. I never met the man. I knew that his functions were very limited. I had been assured by the NAMA chairman that he had no access to commercially sensitive information, and he was a recommendation of, I assume, the Northern Ireland Executive because his recommendation came under the signature of then Northern Ireland Minister for...

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: Wait now. If he was guilty of a criminal offence, he would be investigated and I am assume he was being investigated by the Northern Ireland authority. He had resigned from the board of NAMA and the persons who were alleged to have promised him some money were now withdrawn from the sale.

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 did not have anything to do because I had no legal role and the NAMA board view at the time - it advised me - was that the exclusion of PIMCO from the sale process was a sufficient remedy to his alleged involvement.

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: He briefed me on the fact that the contact between PIMCO and NAMA was being discontinued because PIMCO had advised NAMA that its ethics committee in the United States had advised it that there were payments to be made arising from-----

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 was the board of NAMA appointed him on the recommendation of the then Northern Ireland Finance Minister.

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, it was a matter for the board 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: I never said politics had no role in 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: No, what I said was that politicians had no role in the commercial decisions of NAMA. That is a different thing.

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: My statement that I never advocated an exclusive bidder has been challenged by the Deputy. I refer to the minute of the meeting taken on my side. It states the Minister confirmed that NAMA would be a willing seller of its Northern Ireland assets at an appropriate price having undertaken an appropriate sales process. The Minister explained that NAMA avoids bilateral sales processes as not...

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: ...General produces an annual report, which goes to the Government and is published before the Dáil. It produces quarterly reports. Some of the Comptroller and Auditor General staff are embedded in NAMA and can review matters on an ongoing basis. Obviously the Comptroller and Auditor General holds NAMA accountable, as does the Committee of Public Accounts, but I am also subject to...

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: While NAMA is operating in accordance with law I cannot interfere in any way as a Minister in the commercial decisions or commercial processes undertaken by NAMA but if, on the other hand, something totally untoward happened there is power in the Act for the Minister to intervene to ensure the purposes of the Act are fulfilled. One of the purposes of the Act is to get best value for the taxpayer.

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: ...were in similar circumstances he would be concerned as well, but it was PIMCO, the proposed purchaser, that had promised to pay some money to Mr. Cushnahan and others, after their dialogue with NAMA, but it withdrew from the sales process so it was off the pitch. As a consequence, that alleviated my concern. If NAMA had continued to sell to PIMCO in those circumstances then there would...