Results 41-60 of 71 for nama speaker:Shane Cassells

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...have been inappropriate for anyone to do so. However, an aspect in the letter from Tom Rice, chief legal officer of PIMCO, which we discussed this morning, sets out the context for the approach to NAMA on the purchase of the property and that the Northern Ireland Government expressed a desire that it wanted a responsible purchaser and that PIMCO fitted that bill. It also goes on to state...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...in town in terms of how this process would proceed, and that there was not an option in her mind or in the Department's mind to work through the loans. How much hard analysis was put forward by NAMA to the Department in respect of an analysis of the portfolio that shows that this was a non-runner?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: That is fine I can go back and check on her analysis of the role that NAMA took in this respect and the manner of her defence of the role it took. I think we all asked Ms Nolan did she believe that the role NAMA took was the right course of action in securing the best possible deal for the State.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...selling and whether it was getting the money back. The Chairman raised points earlier in respect of table 7, where PIMCO in its bid for assets one to 55 had put in a figure of €950 million, yet NAMA was looking at a figure of €891 million. In terms of issues like that where potential bids were on the table, was NAMA advising the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: He made the point that the presentation being put forward with a spin by NAMA was that there is an accounting difference and he made the point that this is not simply an accounting difference, rather it is about economic decision-making and how one makes choices in terms of public resources.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: At the previous meeting Ms Nolan said that waiting until 2020 to sell the property was not an option, but NAMA's asset work-out plan set out in figure 3.3 envisages that half the property would be sold by 2015 and 90% by 2017. Does the Department have a view on whether that timeframe was appropriate?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...get nuggets of information but it is taking plenty of stoking to get them. One of the core points that is ultimately our objective to examine is the issue of a probable loss. Mr. McEnery and the NAMA chairman stressed this was a good deal. The Minister for Finance has wished us well in finding the truth. The question of motivation is central. Mr. Soffe said in his opening contribution...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...is that, on the day, I think it was Ann Nolan who said there was no other deal on the table. This was the Department of Finance talking. They were very good cheerleaders for the stance NAMA took because they were fully behind it on that day. I will ask Mr. Soffe again. Were the Department of Finance senior officials saying to get this done as quickly as possible? Mr. Soffe said to...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: I know NAMA does.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...'s role in this, Mr. Soffe has said that the Minister sought a discreet and confidential process. Mr. Soffe said that, "given the recent history of this island, it would have been unthinkable for NAMA to have ignored the impact of its actions on the Northern Ireland economy and on North-South relations". It comes back to the issue of motivation. Did that thinking affect how...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: So Mr. Ellingham got no sense that the Minister was under an extreme amount of pressure from Europe and was passing it on to NAMA to do this?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: Given the sensitivity of what was being handled, it would have been important to make sure that there was an accurate recording, especially given that in its financial statement, NAMA pointed out that it would allow itself some wriggle room to change the discount in order to move a deal on. There should have been proper minute-taking in respect of a decision of this magnitude.

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)

Shane Cassells: On the divergence of opinion and to help us, because the Chairman has to bring us together and write a report, did NAMA do a good job in the sale to maximise the interests of the taxpayer in the price it had achieved?

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)

Shane Cassells: The Minister has stated NAMA did a good job. In his mind, is there no probable loss?

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)

Shane Cassells: ...that statement lightly, given the fact that it would get such media exposure. Frank Daly said that if the words "probable loss" had never been used, there would be no media commentary and that in fact NAMA would have been thanked for having done a good job. Is it really that simple?

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)

Shane Cassells: -----in respect of the record-keeping 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)

Shane Cassells: The Minister just talked about the process. It evolves into a whole other scenario in that the Comptroller and Auditor General report details the record-keeping of NAMA and states that it was not adequate. The Minister will therefore understand how, from the media's point of view, a significant probe is happening outside by third parties in here when such a respected authority says 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)

Shane Cassells: I think Mr. Daly did say that last week. He acknowledged that NAMA did not have a proper minute of that, and the Comptroller and Auditor General report-----

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)

Shane Cassells: ...Northern Ireland or go putting a for sale sign on Northern Ireland. On one occasion somebody said to me, "You might not have got us in 1922. Do not think that you are going to get us now through NAMA." That is a fairly stark statement to make. The Minister says that there was an open competitive process, but Mr. Daly talks in those kinds of terms.

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)

Shane Cassells: ..., then, the Minister has said it got a good deal, that it was not realistic to kick it out to 2020. He stands by its position, so to help me make my summation: does the Minister stand over what NAMA has done?