Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question also relates to the section as it regards remuneration for board members and their status as employees. Will they be public sector workers, for example? The Minister of State has mentioned public sector pay grades. I do not imagine the Minister of State has details of full staffing levels but with the establishment of NAMA by the previous Government, there were issues, as well as matters relating to pay and pension arrangements in the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA. I am not suggesting that ReBo will be in that sphere.

What will happen with pension arrangements and are the terms and conditions of the staff contracts exactly the same as other workers in the public sector? The NTMA may be a bad example but when it was at one stage effectively a pseudo-State corporation as it was set up with a defined contribution pension arrangement and the board decided to change it to a defined benefit pension arrangement that required no permission from the Minister for Finance of the time. Against the advice of the Committee of Public Accounts and various Members across the Houses, the agency set its own terms and conditions regarding pay and pensions.

I understand if the Minister of State does not have all the detail to hand but I am flagging this as a potential issue. Perhaps he will tell me it is not an issue and the matter is being dealt with. I would appreciate any comments in that regard.