Mr. John Corrigan:

My view on the salaries is that the salaries are the salaries. We have dramatically increased in numbers because of the additional responsibilities that have been given to us, mainly represented by the NAMA project. As I stated, NAMA has over 230 employees. We must recruit in the market and the salaries are what the salaries are. I can understand people's anger over salaries in the financial services sector but we must operate in that sector. Solving the perceived problems associated with high salaries is really a wider issue than the NTMA issue. When we recruit people, for example, we do not go after them with open chequebooks. We try to keep what we have to pay people to a minimum. A common sense requirement we have is that people must produce their P60s if a job offer is made to them so we will not be hoodwinked by people who are over egging what they claim to have earned. The salaries are what the salaries are. There is a job of work to be done, which is important from the State's point of view. There is a wider policy issue, which one may call an ethical issue if one wishes, with respect to salaries in the financial services sector, but that spreads much wider than the NTMA.