Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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170. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide in tabular form for each of Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks, Permanent TSB, National Treasury Management Agency and the National Asset Management Agency, the number of retired employees currently being paid a pension of between €100,000 to €200,000; €200,001 to €300,000; €300,001 to €400,000; €400,001 to €500,000; and in excess of €500,000, based on the latest figures from the banks as opposed to the Mercer report. [25782/14]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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171. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide in tabular form for each of Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks, Permanent TSB, National Treasury Management Agency and the National Asset Management Agency the number of retired employees currently on a total remuneration package between €100,000 to €200,000; €200,001 to €300,000; €300,001 to €400,000; €400,001 to €500,000; and in excess of €500,000, based on the latest figures from the banks as opposed to the Mercer report. [25783/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 170 and 171 together.

I have received the following information regarding retired employees.

AIB

The number of retired employees being paid a pension as at 31st May 2014 from the AIB Group pension schemes was 5,165.  With regard to the actual pensions in payment data, this is the property of the Pension Trustees and is covered by Data Protection legislation.  The defined benefit pension funds are separate legal entities from AIB under the control of the Trustees who act independently of the Bank on behalf of the schemes' members.  Both the Trustees and the Bank have taken legal advice in relation to the release of the information requested in tabular form.  On the basis of this legal advice, the Trustees have agreed to provide to AIB, for onward disclosure, aggregate data only to ensure that there is no disclosure of personal data.

In total there are 97 pensions in payment in excess of €100,000 across the AIB Group pension schemes.  This amounts to 1.88% of the pensioner population at the end of May 2014. There is no additional AIB ann remuneration for retirees outside of their pension payment.

Bank of Ireland

The publicly available information in relation to pensions is contained within the Bank of Ireland annual report for the year ended 31 December 2013.

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Permanent TSB

permanent TSB is in a unique position in that its pension schemes have been wound up and the trustees of the various schemes are currently arranging for the assets of the schemes to be allocated among the pensioners, deferred employees and current employees. This process is still ongoing and details of benefits provided are not available.

NTMA/NAMA

As set out in the reply to the Deputy on 15 April 2014, two former employees of the NTMA are in receipt of a pension of between €100,000 and €200,000 and one is in receipt of a pension of between €200,000 and €300,000.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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172. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Questions Nos 149 of 13 December 2013, 184 of 28 January 2014, and 172 and 174 of 15 April 2014 if before replying he or his officials made any attempt to contact the banks in question to ascertain the information; and if not, the reason for same. [25784/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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My officials have had numerous contacts with the banks in connection with disclosures around Remuneration, both linked to your specified Parliamentary Questions and in an effort to best keep informed the general public, investors and other stakeholders about the restructuring taking place at the banks. As you know it has been a stated policy objective of the Government to ensure that banks reduced their cost bases so as to be best positioned to support their return to profitability and the recovery in the economy.

The Mercer Report published last year and the subsequent direction to the banks to reduce their total remuneration costs by 6%-10% formed a central plank of that effort and as I have indicated on numerous occasions, all the banks met this directive. They did not all meet this requirement by similar means, but all had to navigate complex and difficult industrial relations processes, with staff current and former, ultimately contributing significantly to the effort.

Providing detailed data on the remuneration of thousands of staff at particular points during the year and particularly in different formats, is a time consuming task that diverts bank staff from their day to day roles. However it is perfectly reasonable for the State as owner, to expect significant remuneration disclosures on an annual basis which is why I requested that the State owned banks provide such information for end 2013, either in their published accounts or on their websites. I understand that the State owned banks have recently put this information on their websites. It can be found at the following addresses:

AIB:

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ptsb:

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