All fifteen NTMA employees whose salaries exceed €200,000 agreed to my request of December 2011 that they waive 15% of salary or such amount of salary as exceeds €200,000 if application of the full 15% reduction would bring their salary to below €200,000. This reduction is being effected through the gifting of a proportion of salary to the Exchequer under Section 483 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Gifting of a proportion of salary to the Exchequer under this provision does not affect the calculation of pension benefits. The remuneration packages of the NTMA and NAMA chief executives are published in the Financial Statements of the relevant bodies included in their respective annual reports which are available on the websites www.ntma.ie and www.nama.ie. In respect of 2011 the details were as follows:
Chief Executive NTMA
Salary
|
€490,000
|
Taxable benefits (car and health insurance)
|
€28,635
|
The Chief Executive waived any consideration for performance-related pay in respect of 2010 and 2011.
Applying the 15% reduction agreed by the Chief Executive brings his salary to €416,500.
Chief Executive NAMA
Salary
|
€430,000
|
Taxable benefits (car and health insurance)
|
€24,483
|
The Chief Executive waived any consideration for performance-related pay in respect of 2010 and 2011.
Applying the 15% reduction agreed by the Chief Executive brings his salary to €365,500.
The Public Service Pension Deduction is applied to the Chief Executives of the NTMA and NAMA. They are members of the NTMA defined benefit superannuation scheme and as members of the scheme prior to 1 January 2010 their pension benefits are based on final salary. The pension benefits of members who joined the scheme on or after 1 January 2010 are based on career average earnings. Unlike most public pension schemes which are funded on a pay-as-you-go basis, the NTMA superannuation scheme is a funded scheme. Pension entitlements are within the standard entitlements in the model public sector defined benefit superannuation scheme. Pension contributions are not paid to individual employees – they are paid into the scheme. The level of potential pension payments to members is dependent on length of service, based on final salary or career average earnings, with 1/80th of salary accruing for each year of service.