Vol. 536 No. 4
4 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance the names of persons recently appointed to the board of the proposed national pensions reserve fund; their individual qualifications to serve on the board; when their individual terms of office will commence and end; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14524/01]
The National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission consists of a chairperson and six ordinary members. Under the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act, commissioners are required to have substantial experience and expertise at senior level in such areas as investment, finance, accountancy, the Civil Service, the pensions industry etc. While future commissioners will be appointed for five year terms, the Act provides for the appointment of the ordinary members of the first commission for terms of three and four years to ensure continuity as new commissioners are appointed.
I appointed Mr. Donal Geaney as chairman of the commission, with a five year term of office. Mr. Geaney is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, has previously been a partner in KPMG and is now chairman and chief executive officer of Elan Corporation plc. Mr. Bob Curran was appointed commissioner with a four year term of office. Mr. Curran previously served for nearly 20 years as second secretary of the public expenditure division in the Department of Finance. Ms Bríd Horan was appointed to the commission with a three year term of office. Ms Horan has substantial experience in the pensions industry. She headed KPMG's pension and actuarial consulting business in Ireland before joining ESB in 1997 where she was general manager of pensions. Ms Horan is also an associate of the Institute of Actuaries.
Dr. Martin Kohlhaussen was appointed to the commission for a four year term. Dr. Kohlhaussen has recently retired as chairman of the board of managing directors of Commerzbank AG, a position he had held since 1991, having been a member of the board since 1982. Dr. Kohlhaussen previously worked internationally in banking as branch manager in Tokyo and New York. He also holds a law degree. Mr. Donald Roth was appointed to the commission for a four-year term. Mr. Roth is a founder and managing partner of the Emerging Markets Partnership, a private equity firm. Before establishing this firm, he worked as an international investment banker in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York, and also served as treasurer of the World Bank for a number of years.
Mr. Daniel Tully was appointed to the commission for a three-year term. Mr. Tully served as chairman of the board of Merrill Lynch and Company, Incorporated, from 1993 to 1997 and was chief executive officer from 1992 to 1996. He has served as vice-chairman of the American Stock Exchange and director of the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Tully is currently on the board of the Elan Corporation plc and of Merrill Lynch, Capital Markets Bank in Dublin. Dr. Michael Somers was appointed, ex officio, to the commission. Because he is a commissioner by virtue of his position as chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency, which is manager of the fund, he is the only member of the commission not to have a designated term of office.
All the commissioners were appointed effective as of 2 April 2001. I am very pleased that such a high calibre body of people has agreed to serve on the commission.
Apart from Dr. Somers, are the rest of the board non-executive directors or will any of them serve full time?
It would be wrong to describe Dr. Somers as an executive director of the commission. The Act names and appoints the NTMA as the first manager of the pension reserve fund commission for a period up to ten years. It is from this that Dr. Somers' position arises and it therefore would not be technically correct to call him the executive director. He is the representative of the NTMA, the first manager. The other people have non-executive positions. It is not the same as a semi-State company as people are not directors. Rather they are commissioners and are between the Minister for Finance and the board. They are totally independent, as is outlined in the Act, and are not subject to any direction, policy or otherwise, from the Minister for Finance or the Government.
I agree with the Minister that this is a very high level board and I wish to be associated with the Minister in thanking these people for taking on this important task.
