The chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), Brendan McDonagh, is expected to face questions about his €430,000 salary when he appears before the Oireachtas Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The civil servant was reportedly the Government’s top pick to lead its new housing delivery agency until he withdrew his name from consideration earlier this month following political controversy over his salary.
Mr McDonagh will appear before the committee to discuss Nama’s work and preparations for the wind-down of the agency, among other issues.
A copy of his opening remarks, seen by The Irish Times, does not reference the recent political farrago that led Fine Gael to block his appointment at a Cabinet committee meeting on May 1st.
The possibility that Mr McDonagh would retain his current €430,000 salary in the top job at the new Housing Activation Agency became the subject of strong criticism from the Opposition in the Dáil.
At the time, a spokeswoman for Housing Minister James Browne said: “He [Mr McDonagh] did not want to be at the centre of controversy and felt it was far more important that the Housing Activation Office succeeds. He wishes it every success.”
The official, who previously served as director of the National Treasury Management Agency, is expected to face questions on various issues from Sinn Féin.
In his opening address, Mr McDonagh will tell the committee that Nama – established in 2009 to take some €74 billion of risky commercial property-backed loans of the books of five troubled Irish lenders – will complete the transfer of its lifetime surplus, currently projected to be €5.2 billion, during the year.
“We are progressing the wind down of Nama in parallel with the legislative process being managed by the Department of Finance to enact the necessary legislation that will give effect to Nama’s dissolution at the end of 2025,” he is expected to tell TDs and senators on Wednesday.
The Irish Times reported on Tuesday that the State paid €10.3 million for an investigation into Nama’s controversial €1.6 billion sale of a portfolio of Northern Ireland properties to US firm Cerberus in 2014.
Nama provided 36 witnesses to the inquiry. Its total legal bill approached €7.5 million, but the body paid €5 million of this itself.
