Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Finance the private firms who provide, or have provided, legal, regulatory or financial advice to him in relation to the ongoing banking crisis since August 2008; the amount of money paid to each of these firms in 2008 and to date in 2009; the amount of the retainer paid to each of these firms since their services were engaged; the sum budgeted for the provision of services by each of these firms for the years 2009 and 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32385/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, I have received advice on the banking crisis from the Attorney General's Office, the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator and the NTMA. The private consultancy firm which provided legal, regulatory or financial advice to me on the banking crisis since August 2008 is set out below.

Arthur Cox solicitors have been engaged by my Department since September 2008 to provide advice in relation to general banking matters including the Bank Guarantee scheme, the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank and the recapitalisation of AIB, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank. The company was paid €1,628,024 in 2008 and €2,254,263 has been paid to date in 2009. The sum of €5.4 million has been allocated for legal advice for 2009 and an estimate of €3 million has been set aside for legal advice in 2010.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers was retained by the Financial Regulator in late 2008 to assist the Financial Regulator with a review of the financial and capital positions of Irish banks and to enable the Financial Regulator to advise the Government on what action needed to be taken. The work undertaken involved an initial high level assessment of the capital and liquidity levels of the institutions, stress testing of the institution's loan portfolios over a three year period, and review the valuation of properties held as collateral against the main property loans.

The total fees paid by the Financial Regulator to the company in respect of the work was €3.8 million, which has been completed. In addition, the Financial Regulator has paid €0.84 million to Jones Lang La Salle for financial and property consultancy services in relation to the Bank Guarantee Scheme.

The National Treasury Management Agency paid a total of €7.3 million to Merrill Lynch for investment banking advice up to 30 June 2009. Following a competitive tender process in July, Rothschild have now been awarded the contract for investment banking advice. The NTMA has also retained an economist however the terms of his contract with the NTMA were agreed on a confidential basis. In addition, following a competitive tender process, the NTMA engaged HSBC and Arthur Cox to provide advice in relation to NAMA.