Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is not cost free because we are effectively paying somebody after he or she has gone and also paying his or her replacement. Therefore, there is a cost issue - we are paying twice for the same set of functions to be carried out. We try to measure it by what is adequate and what provides protection, but I do not want to go beyond this. We have arrangements in place in the Department, but there is significant accrued leave in the Department of Finance because many of the senior people do not even get their holidays. We had an example in the public media of a senior official transferring from the Department of Finance to one of the banks. He went on holidays well before there was any announcement of his job and had worked out a kind of self-imposed gardening period before he made the transfer. He would be subject to the law and the Official Secrets Act also.

With regard to the reasons people are leaving and whether NAMA is a training ground for the property industry, when NAMA was set up, the property industry was banjaxed and many people were looking for jobs. Now that the industry is rising again and there are significant commercial transactions in Dublin, there are far more opportunities. Therefore, while jobs with NAMA were very attractive three years ago, there may be more attractive jobs in the private sector now.

One last point, one of the big problems for a young person looking for a career is that NAMA is supposed to finish up in 2020. Even if the job is well paid and better paid than jobs in the private sector, a person cannot plan a career in an organisation that is going to terminate. That is one of the big difficulties. As we move through the years towards 2020, we will see more people leaving.

See this speech in context