Written answers
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Department of Finance
Departmental Contracts
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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122. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 65 of 6 February 2025, to provide additional detail on the contract with a company (details supplied) making specific reference to the substance of the advice received and the impact it had on the decision to sell state assets; the reason there was no cost to the Department given the contract was for a 12-month duration; if there was costs related to the contract paid by any third-party; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5114/25]
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Following a tender competition ran by the Department of Finance in January 2023, Rothschild & Co. were selected as the Department’s independent financial advisor in March 2023 on a 24-month contract with the option of a 12-month renewal. The role of Rothschild & Co is as follows:
- To act as independent financial advisor in relation to the State’s remaining banking investments. The role includes advising the Department in relation to the planning, structuring and execution of disposals or strategic transactions.
- To assist in the appointment of consultants from Lot 3 of the Department’s financial advisory framework to provide capital markets distribution services to the Department.
- To monitor, advise and report to the Department on the capital markets distribution services provided by the selected tenderers referred to in (b) above.
Ahead of each potential sell-down of the State’s banking assets, Rothschild & Co. provide independent advice on areas such as the structure, sizing, pricing and timing of the transaction as well as overall execution strategy.
The fees associated with the State’s sell-down of its banking assets fall within the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between the NTMA and the Department of Finance given it relates to the work of the former NTMA Banking Unit, therefore, all invoices relating to these transactions, in the first instance, are paid by the NTMA. The NTMA then recoup the monies paid from the financial institution to which the transaction relates as per the terms of the recapitalisation agreements that are in place between the State and the various financial institutions which were recapitalised by the State. Therefore, there is no cost to the State arising from Rothschild & Co.'s work with the Department of Finance.
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