Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will outline the metrics by which he assesses the ongoing performance of the National Asset Management Agency and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. [56869/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Shareholding Management Unit of my Department monitors the performance of IBRC on a regular basis. The Unit fulfils this duty through a number of instruments including a Monthly Operating Plan Report, agreed between my Department and IBRC, which provides a detailed analysis of the financial performance of IBRC including its capital position, balance sheet deleveraging, asset quality and operating costs against both the agreed EC restructuring plan and also against management team’s own forecasts. In addition the Unit meets Senior Management in the bank on a monthly basis to challenge business performance and receive timely updates on deleveraging progress.

NAMA is assessed by reference to the objectives set for it by the Oireachtas as set out in Section 20 of the NAMA Act 2009. NAMA was, as the Deputy is aware, established to (1) remove systemic risk to the Irish banking system through the acquisition of land and development and associated loans from participating institutions and (2) to obtain the best achievable return to the State from these acquired loans. NAMA has completed the first of these major undertakings through the valuation, purchase and transfer of relevant loans from the participating institutions. In the process, NAMA has injected over 30 billion in liquidity into the Irish banking system. Alongside this, the establishment and development of the Agency itself to carry out the tasks mandated to it by the NAMA Act 2009 has been another important achievement.

NAMA is now fully engaged in its core role of managing and selling the assets under its control with a view to obtaining the best financial return for the state. The progress that is being made is exemplified by the fact that, since inception, NAMA has generated total cash flows of over €10 billion, circa €6.6 billion in asset sales, with a further €2 billion in the pipeline, and circa €3.5 billion in non-disposal income, mainly rental receipts from properties controlled by its debtors and receivers.

As a result of its current cash and liquid asset balance and strong cash-generation capacity, NAMA is firmly on course to meet its ultimate objective of redeeming over its projected ten-year life to 2020, at minimum, the Senior Bonds issued as consideration for the acquired bank assets in addition to recovery of its carrying costs and the working and development capital expenditure advanced in the course of its work. I am advised by NAMA that it has already redeemed €3.25 billion of its debt and is in no doubt as to its ability to meet its end-2013 target of redeeming €7.5 billion in Senior Bonds. The achievement of this target, which forms part of the Troika programme, is important in terms of Ireland’s return to the debt markets.

Whilst these are the primary measures against which NAMA’s work is viewed, I also note that it is playing a vital role in helping to encourage activity in the Irish commercial and residential property markets through initiatives including vendor finance, €2 billion of which is expected ultimately to be made available to prospective purchasers of commercial property controlled by its debtors and receivers, and its 80:20 Deferred Payment Initiative for prospective house buyers. NAMA has also announced plans to invest up to €2 billion over the next four years in its Irish assets, which has significant employment potential and will ensure that we are positioned to meet the future growth needs of the economy through, for instance, delivery of the accommodation needs of future Foreign Direct Investment.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 311 of 18 September 2012, when he said that the National Asset Management Agency does not compete with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation for resources and customers, and following the statement by the chief executive officer of IBRC (details supplied) at the Oireachtas Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Committee on 31 October 2012 when he said we are not the only organisation in the country which has this type of portfolio, as we go through the process of building teams, they are at risk, they get poached, and not only by other State owned organisations but also by foreign organisations which have difficult and distressed portfolios which they need to work out and his response to Parliamentary Question No. 256 of 6 November 2012 in which he confirmed that 14 staff had been recruited by NAMA from IBRC, if he will reconfirm his position that there is no competition between NAMA and IBRC for resources. [56870/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Many financial institutions will compete for suitably experienced staff in the Irish market, whether it is with the Irish covered banks, non-Irish banks or specialist financial services platforms. However I would not characterise the level of competition for resources between IBRC and NAMA as anything other than normal market competition.