Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 71: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the payment of bonuses to staff at credit institutions covered by the blanket bank guarantee and expected to participate in the National Assets Management Agency; if his attention has been drawn to the bonuses being paid to staff in the lending departments at any of these credit institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44889/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Paragraph 47 of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008 provides that bonuses for directors or senior executives must be measurably linked to reductions in guarantee charges, reduction in excessive risk-taking and encouraging the long-term sustainability of the covered institutions.

The Deputy will appreciate that in answering his question about bonuses to staff, the terms of the Scheme relate in this regard only to directors and senior executives. Pursuant to the Scheme, the Credit Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC) was established and its published report has provided additional specific details in relation to remuneration levels in the banks.

The Deputy will be aware that the Committee recommended that performance-related bonus schemes for chief executives and executive directors should not lead to payments in respect of performance in 2008 or in 2009 and for the period of the Government guarantee.

With regard to staff in the lending departments of the covered institutions I can confirm that in the case of two of the covered institutions bonuses have been paid out in 2009 to staff. In one instance the bonus payments at 25% of normal levels were awarded to 9 junior staff prior to the publication of the CIROC report. In the other bonuses were confined to staff working in overseas offices where there were pre-existing contractual commitments in relation to performance in the financial year 2008.