06-05-2025
Plans to guarantee NAMA boss his €430,000 salary must be scrapped, says Pearse Doherty
THE €430,000 SALARY for NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh should not be carried over into his new job when the public body is dissolved at the end of the year, according to Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty.
Doherty has said the government must reverse its plan to push through legislation that will lock-in the high salary.
The NAMA legislation, published back in July and which is currently at committee stage, sets out the management of the wind down of the NAMA, such as the secondment of staff and their pay.
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The legislation sets out that there was a agreement negotiated that any person that worked with the body shall not, on the dissolution day of the agency, be subject to less beneficial terms, which includes the remuneration they have been receiving.
This means McDonagh, if he returns to his position in the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), will retain his €430,000 salary.
Doherty said he had previously raised concerns at the Finance Committee about the matter and criticised the government's plan to guarantee an extraordinarily high public sector salary of €430,000, even when NAMA ceases to exist.
'The government is planning to push through the legislation in the coming months as NAMA is scheduled to be dissolved by the end of the year.
'That means that they are going to try and rush this legislation through, likely hoping they could bounce this through without anyone noticing the stroke they are pulling,' he said.
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He said people are rightfully angry the controversy over the appointment of the housing tsar, which saw Fine Gael blocking the appointment last week, before McDonagh withdrew his name for consideration.
Given that the IBRC Special Liquidation and Dissolution of NAMA Bill is still at committee stage, and has not yet passed all stages, there is space for amendments to the law.
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