30 IBRC staff give two fingers to Noonan when asked to waive portion of salaries over €200,000

 "At the end of 2011, Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan wrote to the National Treasury Management Agency asking that staff earning in excess of €200,000 would waive 15% of their salaries in 2012 or the portion of their salaries over €200,000 whicheve" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on NAMA Wine Lake 30 IBRC staff give two fingers to Noonan when asked to waive portion of salaries over €200,000
by namawinelake


At the end of 2011, Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan wrote to the National Treasury Management Agency asking that staff earning in excess of €200,000 would waive 15% of their salaries in 2012 or the portion of their salaries over €200,000 whichever was the lesser. The NTMA which is the umbrella organisation for a number of organisations including NAMA eventually complied with the request and all staff earning more than €200,000 have seen 15% of their salaries waived in 2012 (or the excess over €200,000 whichever is the lesser).

It has emerged this evening that on 5th April 2012 – four months after Minister Noonan’s intervention at the NTMA – the Minister asked IBRC to have its senior staff to waive 15% of their salaries. The response was, said Minister Noonan “I am informed by the Bank that the decision not to pursue pay cuts was based on the difficulty faced by the Bank in retaining and attracting staff, and the fact that the remuneration packages paid to the new management team are lower than those historically paid by the Bank.”

Minister Noonan is the sole shareholder in IBRC and controls 100% of the shares. At the end of 2011, these were the salaries and associated staff.



So Brendan McDonagh at NAMA took a cut of 15% to his €430,000 salary as requested and now earns €365,500. All other staff at NAMA earning more than €200,000 waived 15% of their salaries.

Yet, Mike Aynsley the CEO of IBRC whose salary and benefits are as follows



said “No”. Not only that but 29 other staff whose salary is in excess of €200,000 also said “no”.

Staff at NAMA who sacrificed their salaries would be justified in feeling they are bearing an unfair share of burdens. NAMA manages an overall portfolio of loans worth about 30% more than those managed at IBRC, and arguably NAMA has a much more higher profile and challenging task. But whilst NAMA staff might feel aggrieved at the apparent discrimination towards their efforts, the rest of us will be justified in yet again being flabbergasted at the ignorance and insensitivity of bankers at IBRC. And the impotence of our finance minister who 100% owns IBRC.

Minister Noonan was responding to a series of questions from the Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty. The full parliamentary questions and responses are here:

Deputy Pearse Doherty :To ask the Minister for Finance to provide in tabular form, with respect to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, the number of the staff whose annual salary at 31 December 2011 fell in the following bands, €400,000 and above, €300,000 to €399,999, €200,000 to €299,999 and €150,000 to €199,999..

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan : I have been advised by the Bank of the following information with regard to staff’s annual salary as at 31st December 2011;

(Salary only) Staff No’s # as at 31 Dec 2011

Ireland, UK and US

€0 - €99,000 1060

€100,000 -

€149,000 108

€150,000 -

€199,000 23

€200,000 -

€299,000 21

€300,000 -

€399,000 3

€400,000 -

€499,000 5

€500,000+ 1

Deputy Pearse Doherty :To ask the Minister for Finance to confirm the salary paid to the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Mr MikeAynsley and to provide a listing and quantification of any additional benefits paid, and in respect of any expenses allowance to confirm if such allowances are paid only in respect of vouched and receipted expenditure..

Deputy Pearse Doherty : To ask the Minister for Finance if he will confirm if the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Mr Mike Aynsley is employed on a temporary contract; the date on which this contract was entered into; the termination date of this contract and if he will quantify any termination payments provided for under the contract..

Deputy Pearse Doherty : To ask the Minister for Finance if the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Mr Mike Aynsley is employed on a continuing or permanent contract and if he will quantify any termination payments provided for under the contract.

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan : I propose to answer questions 44, 45 and 46 together.

I have been advised by IBRC that the CEO, Mike Aynsley, is a permanent employee of the Bank. Mr Aynsley’s contract was entered into in August 2009 and was effective from 7 September 2009. The normal termination date of the contract is upon the CEO’s 60th birthday which is 24 March 2018. Standard termination payments in lieu of notice exist. All temporary allowances are paid only in respect of vouched and receipted expenditure.

2009 2010 2011 2012 forecast

€ (‘000) € (‘000) € (‘000) € (‘000)

Salary €160 €500 €500 €500

Benefits €18 €41 €38 €38

Pension €40 €125 €125 €125

Allowances €125 €294 €203 €0

Total €343* €960** €866 €663

*Note: The amount of €343,000 differs to the figure of €329,000 reported in the Bank’s Annual Report & Accounts 2009 as a result of adjustments made in the following year.

**Note: The amount of €960,000 differs to the figure of €974,000 reported in the Bank’s Annual Report & Accounts 2010 as a result of adjustments made for 2009.

Deputy Pearse Doherty : To ask the Minister for Finance if he has contacted the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation requesting staff whose annual salary is in excess of €200,000 to waive 15% of their salary or such amount in excess of €200,000 whichever is the lesser, and if he has, the date on which he first made this contact; the number of staff whose annual salaries were in excess of €200,000 at that date; the number of staff who acquiesced to the request for the waiver; the number of staff who refused the request for the waiver and the number of staff who have not responded to the request for the waiver..

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan : At a meeting on the 5th April 2012, I asked the Chairman of IBRC, Mr Alan Dukes, if the Board of the Bank would consider a reduction of 15% in senior management salaries. Mr Dukes subsequently informed me that reductions in pay levels for individual staff in IBRC, (the entity tasked with winding down the former Anglo Irish Bank and INBS), had been considered by the Board of the Bank and that a decision had been reached not to implement cuts at that time.

I am informed by the Bank that the decision not to pursue pay cuts was based on the difficulty faced by the Bank in retaining and attracting staff, and the fact that the remuneration packages paid to the new management team are lower than those historically paid by the Bank.

Fees however for Non-Executive Directors were initially reduced by 20% at the end of 2008 and by a further 15% in July of 2012.

namawinelake | November 7, 2012 at 7:10 pm | Categories: Banks , Irish economy , NAMA , Politics | URL: http://wp.me/pNlCf-3dE