Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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157. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of the cost of the National Asset Management Agency's scheme to make retention payments to staff who remain with it; the total amount paid to date; the amount each staff member will be paid; the reason he agreed to the scheme; his views that the payments are justified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21920/16]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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159. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of staff employed by the National Asset Management Agency in each of the years 2010 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21922/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 157 and 159 together.

The information sought by the Deputy, regarding the cost of NAMA's retention scheme, is set out in aggregate detail in NAMA's Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2015 on page 103. This is available on the NAMA website, www.nama.ie.  NAMA does not make retention payments to staff whilst they remain in its employment.  Retention payments are only made where staff are departing the organisation under the Agency's redundancy programme.  The retention payment for individual staff is dependent on NAMA achieving its targets and on satisfactory individual performance ratings. Redundancy dates are pre-agreed with staff as part of NAMA's wind down strategy and payment will only be made when and if the staff member leaves the organisation on the pre-agreed date.

All NAMA officers are employees of the NTMA and are assigned to NAMA by the NTMA. These staff have a diverse range of skills and experience from the disciplines of banking, finance, law property, insolvency and planning, among others. The number of staff which are assigned to NAMA by the NTMA is outlined in the Annual Reports and Financial Statements published by the Agency. This includes 50 employees who exited the Agency as part of the Voluntary Redundancy Programme.

As set out in my Department's Section 227 Review of NAMA in July 2014, the ability of NAMA to obtain the best achievable financial return for the State is heavily dependent on its retention of expertise. That view has been strongly endorsed by the NAMA Board. Given that, I agreed with the NAMA Board in the context of NAMA's accelerated senior debt redemption target and its ancillary residential and commercial development funding activities, that a redundancy programme reflecting public sector norms and also comprising a retention payment element would be introduced to enable NAMA retain key staff.

Staffing Numbers 2010 - End June 2016