Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Finance the contracts that have been signed between a company (details supplied) and his Department or State agencies under the aegis of his Department; the details of any such contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19167/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has not entered into any contracts with the company in question. In respect of bodies under the aegis of my Department I have been informed by the National Treasury Management Agency that it frequently enters into contracts related to debt management transactions with Goldman Sachs companies as market counterparties. In addition, the NTMA recognised Goldman Sachs International as a Primary Dealer in Irish Government bonds in February 2010. This brought the number of Primary Dealers to fourteen:

· Barclays Capital, London

· BNP Paribas, London

· Calyon, Paris

· Citigroup Global Markets, London

· Davy Stockbrokers, Dublin

· Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt and London

· Goldman Sachs International, London

· HSBC, Paris

· ING Bank NV, Amsterdam

· J.P. Morgan, London

· Nomura International plc, London

· Royal Bank of Scotland, London

· Société Générale, Paris

· UBS Limited, London

The National Pensions Reserve Fund's (NPRF) long-term strategic asset allocation is broken down for investment purposes into a number of investment mandates. In most cases the NPRF Commission has outsourced the management of these mandates to specialist investment management institutions. The contract for the Fund's North American Growth mandate was awarded to Goldman Sachs Asset Management International. This mandate represents 1.4% of the NPRF. The Fund also has an investment in a Goldman Sachs Asset Management currency pooled investment vehicle. This represents 0.2% of the NPRF.

Goldman Sachs has been engaged by the NTMA to provide advice in relation to certain aspects of the banking system functions delegated by the Government to the NTMA in March. Under the Central Bank of Ireland Act 1942 (as amended), the management of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland and the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority is a matter solely for the Board of the Bank, the Regulatory Authority and the Governor and is not a matter in which I have a role. However, I will ask the Bank if it has recently engaged the company referred to and will revert to the Deputy in writing.