Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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76. To ask the Minister for Finance the salary band of each of the four members of the staff of the National Treasury Management Agency who received retention payments in 2014 and in 2015 as follows: €50,000 to €100,000, €100,001 to €150,000, €150,001 to €200,000, €200,001 to €250,000, €250,001 to €300,000, €300,000 plus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44646/15]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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77. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of agreements the National Treasure Management Agency has entered into with staff to make retention payments, in addition to the four payments already disclosed by him; the cost to the agency in entering into those agreements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44647/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 77 together.

The National Treasury Management Agency has now advised me that they made an additional retention payment of €10,000 which they had erroneously classified as a contract completion payment and was omitted from their response to PQ 94 of 3 December 2015. This means that performance-related payments and retention payments made in 2014 and in 2015 amounted to €136,500 and €199,200 respectively. I have arranged for the Dáil record to be amended accordingly.

The relevant salary band in respect of the retention payments is €50,000 to €100,000 (one employee) and €150,000 to €200,000 (three employees, one of whom received a retention payment in 2014 and 2015).

In respect of the retention payments disclosed, a total of €210,000 potentially remains to be paid if the employees in question remain in employment until specific dates in 2016 and 2017.

As previously set out in a response to Parliamentary Question 212 of 23 April 2013, in a limited number of cases where the NTMA employs staff with very marketable skills (particularly in the area of IT) on fixed-term contracts as opposed to permanent contracts, contract completion payments were made upon the expiry of the fixed-term contract in question.  In 2014, a total of €53,208 was paid to 10 employees upon expiry of their fixed-term contracts while in 2015 a total of €81,956 was paid to 15 employees upon expiry of their fixed-term contracts. There are three such contract completion arrangements outstanding and a total of €196,250 potentially remains to be paid to the employees in question upon completion of their fixed-term contracts. No contract completion payments will be made to any of the three employees in question if they become a permanent employee.

The practice of entering into employment contracts providing for retention payments or contract completion payments has been discontinued. No retention arrangement has been entered into since mid 2014. None of the arrangements described above extend beyond 2017.