Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

I have to be completely honest with the Deputy. We try to recruit people who we believe have good experience and skills that can add value to NAMA. We also try to recruit people with integrity and honesty. Under the NAMA Act, there is a lifelong confidentiality provision whereby all staff are obliged not to use information relating to NAMA. We recruited people into NAMA because of the skills we needed and not because of specific information they had. They will go back out into the jobs market as they do not have lifelong jobs in NAMA but have specific purpose contracts which could terminate in 2020 or earlier, if NAMA can be finished sooner.

Most people who join NAMA will stay for a number of years. When they come in the door of NAMA, they are given formal induction training which covers issues of compliance, including section 202 of the NAMA Act, the Official Secrets Act and so forth. When they are leaving the organisation, they are also subject to an exit interview with the compliance department to remind them fully, as they are going out the door, of their responsibilities. We are doing everything possible within our remit to remind people of their obligations and to ensure they fulfil them. In any working environment it is possible that someone will decide not to follow the law, but I cannot control that.