Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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20. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of current and former NAMA staff who listed previous employment in an investment fund or property company either foreign or Irish in their statement of interests, assets and liabilities to the chief executive officer of NAMA when joining the agency; the name of each investment fund or property company in question; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44726/17]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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21. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied that the NAMA system of evaluating possible conflicts of interest of NAMA officials under section 42 of the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009 is robust in assessing whether a person may hold a conflict of interest regarding their previous employment; if a register of conflicts of interest is held by NAMA; the system in place if a NAMA official is deemed to hold a conflict of interest with regard to the way in which it is managed on a day to day basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44725/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 21 together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that disclosures furnished by NTMA employees who are assigned to NAMA, pursuant to section 42(3) of the NAMA Act 2009, are considered by the NTMA in conjunction with NAMA, prior to their assignment, to ensure compliance with section 42(2) of the Act. This section requires the NTMA to ascertain, to its satisfaction, that the employee has no material conflict of interest, whether actual or potential, in respect of his or her proposed assignment to NAMA.

In addition, NAMA officers are subject to a number of additional obligations regarding disclosure of interests. They are holders of designated positions of employment for the purposes of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, which obligates them to furnish an annual statement of interests and a statement of material interests.

Further obligations on NAMA staff are outlined in the ‘Code of Practice-Conduct of Officers of NAMA’, which is updated and submitted to me for approval on an annual basis. The Code is available on the NAMA website and sets out the best practice standards of principles and practice in relation to confidentiality and conflicts of interest. The Code underscores NAMA’s commitment to the highest standards of conduct and has been prepared to assist NAMA staff in understanding their duties, rights and obligations. In particular I would refer the Deputy to Part II of the Code which deals with Conflicts of Interest and references obligations which are additional to NAMA officers’ statutory obligations.

NAMA recruits staff with a diverse range of experience and expertise and with backgrounds in property, banking, investment, law, planning and corporate finance, among other disciplines. This expertise has been, and continues to be, crucial in ensuring that NAMA is in a position to achieve its stated objective under Section 10 of the NAMA Act 2009, which is to achieve the best financial return for the State.

I am advised that it is not possible to provide the Deputy with information on the number of current and former NAMA officers who were previously employed in investment funds and property companies as this would require the NTMA to manually extract the information from more than 600 curricula vitae of current and former staff members. It is not possible to identify the specific funds and companies for the same reason. I am also advised that release of such information could lead to the identification of specific individuals and that this could have Data Protection implications.