Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will publish a schedule of payments made from public funds to a multinational bracket investment banking and securities firm (details supplied) in the period from 1 September 2008 to date in 2012, with notes confirming the basis of each individual payment made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17142/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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This information is not held centrally and accordingly I can only answer in respect of my Department and the Offices/Agencies under the aegis of my Department. The question has been copied to all other Departments who will provide the information under separate cover. The Department of Justice (including the Courts Service) and the Department of Social Protection have indicated that no payments were made to the firm in question.

The Central Bank of Ireland cannot provide details of payments to individual consultants because the information is commercially sensitive.

With regard to my own Department, and the other agencies under the remit of my Department, no payments were made to the firm in question during the period in question with the exception of the National Treasury Management Agency group. The details for that group are set out below.

NTMA

The Minister for Finance delegated certain banking system functions to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) in March 2010. While this delegation was revoked in August 2011 and the NTMA Banking Unit was seconded to the Department of Finance, the costs of certain consultancy services incurred by the Shareholding Management Unit of the Department's Banking Division are still charged to the NTMA on foot of a direction from the Minister for Finance.

In 2010 the NTMA appointed the firm in question to provide advice to the Banking Unit in relation to Anglo Irish Bank. Total payments made under this contract were €362,000.

In 2011 the NTMA appointed the firm in question as advisors as part of its involvement in overseeing the capital raising exercise of the four financial institutions (AIB, BoI, EBS and IL&P), following the announcement of the results of the Central Bank's PCAR/PLAR process on 31 March 2011. Payments made to date under this contract total €4,836,000. It is expected that the costs of this engagement will be recouped from the financial institutions concerned.

NPRF

The firm in question has been a National Pensions Reserve Fund investment manager since March 2002, managing a North American equities portfolio. Fees paid by the Fund to individual investment management firms are commercially sensitive.