NTMA said 2009 pay bill would rise 50%

THE NATIONAL Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) estimated its pay bill would rise by 50 per cent to €27 million in 2009 partly due to its additional workload arising from the banking crisis and the setting up of Nama.

A further €4 million would be spent on staff pensions, up from €3 million the previous year.

The agency wrote in a submission to the McCarthy commission last April that any savings on spending for the year would be offset by “specialist staff” it would have to hire for the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which was set up under its remit.

Brendan McDonagh, then a director of the NTMA and currently the chief executive of Nama, submitted an evaluation report on the costs of running the agency and assessing ways of reducing the NTMA’s operating overheads.

The submission, released to The Irish Timesunder a Freedom of Information request lodged with the Department of Finance, was made as part of the examination of Government spending by the McCarthy commission.

“The NTMA may also incur additional expenses in respect of financial and other advice required in connection with advising the Minister for Finance in respect of the recapitalisation of the Irish banks and the establishment of Nama,” the agency said.

Total gross expenditure at the NTMA was estimated to rise to €43 million in 2009 from €35 million in 2008, the submission says.

The NTMA’s work as a financial adviser to the Government on the banking crisis and Nama was estimated to cost €4 million on top of € 2.5 million spent in 2008.

Expenditure at the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), one of NTMA’s other agencies, was estimated to rise the most, to €13 million for 2009 from €8 million for the previous year.

The other agencies falling under the control of the NTMA are the State Claims Agency (SCA) and the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF), from which €7 billion was taken to recapitalise Allied Irish Banks (AIB) and Bank of Ireland.

The agency said that “no staff surpluses exist based on current activities delegated to NTMA”.

It added: “The NTMA will recruit staff only as necessary and budgeted recruitment for 2009 is on hold for NDFA, SCA and NPRF.” The agency estimated that staff numbers would rise to 217 from 170 employees in 2008.

Former NTMA chief executive Dr Michael Somers last year criticised the additional workload placed on the agency due to the banking crisis and Nama.