LAST UPDATE | 6 May

FINANCE MINISTER PASCHAL Donohoe has said he does not expect NAMA boss Brendan McDonagh to carry over his €430,000 salary when he returns to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). 

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty raised concerns today that when NAMA is wound down at the end of this year that McDonagh would retain his salary in his new role. 

Doherty called on the government to ensure that legislation making its way through the Houses would not lock-in the high salary. 

The NAMA legislation, published back in July and which is currently at committee stage, sets out the management of the wind down of the NAMA, such as the secondment of staff and their pay. 

The legislation sets out that there was a “agreement negotiated” that any person that worked with the body shall not, on the dissolution day of the agency, be subject to less beneficial terms, which includes the remuneration, it states. 

Asked today about McDonagh possibly retaining his €430,000 salary in a new position within the public sector after NAMA is wound down, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said it is his expectation that this will not be the case.

Donohoe explained that a small team of staff from NAMA will be retained within a unit at the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) and that these staff will keep their Nama salaries.

He said however that the CEO of NAMA’s position will not be retained in this unit because the NTMA already has a CEO.

“Brendan McDonagh in his role as chief executive of NAMA has played a leading role in ensuring that NAMA has been able to return back to the Irish taxpayer many billions of Euro, and in turn, his efforts have played a very important role in the progress that our economy has made.

“NAMA was a very important organisation for the Irish State, and its success has played a large role in our public finances becoming healthy again,” Donohoe said.

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The Taoiseach was also asked to comment on the matter at Dublin Castle this afternoon. 

Martin said the legislation is draft legislation and has not yet passed. 

“This is subject to clarification, but my understanding is that those that stay within the resolution unit of NAMA” that will retain their salaries and not those that return to the NTMA, he said. 

Those that return to the NTMA, such as McDonagh, will involve the renegotiation of people’s salaries as it has been over 15 years since those staff left the NTMA to join NAMA under secondment. 

“You don’t go back to the NTMA with your NAMA salary,” Martin added.