The National Asset Management Agency spent €400,000 in 2014 on 'gardening leave ' costs associated with 17 departing staff, according to the agency's annual report.
These are employees who decided to leave Nama for other employment but were required by the state group to serve a cooling-off period before taking up their new role.
Nama said the average period of gardening leave served by these former staff was two months.
“The decision on whether or not to place staff on garden leave is made on a case-by-case basis and would include consideration... of the person’s role within Nama, and the person’s new employer,” the Nama report stated.
The number of staff directly engaged by Nama last year rose to 369, from 331 in 2013. The total salary cost, including pension expenses, was €40.9 million, up from €31.1 million in the previous year.
In addition, the National Treasury Management Agency provided certain shared services to Nama during the year, relating to IT, finance and human resources. This cost to Nama was €3.8 million compared with €2.5 million in 2013.
Nama expects to reduce its headcount this year by 78 and by another 167 in 2016 as it gradually winds down its activities in advance of the 2020 deadline set by the Government.
The cost of its redundancy scheme, including statutory payments, will "not be more than €20 million", Nama's report stated. It added that the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan had agreed that "appropriate staff retention measures" would be put in place to protect the financial performance of Nama as it winds down over a period of years.
Nama’s chief executive Brendan McDonagh received €386,777 in remuneration last year, down from €387,210 in 2013. While his salary rose by €501 to €366,001, his taxable benefits reduced by almost €1,000 to €20,776
Mr McDonagh is entitled to a performance-related payment of up to 60 per cent of his salary but waived this fee last year,as he had done in 2013.
The fee paid to chairman Frank Daly was unchanged at €150,000. Mr Daly also received €1,133 in travel expenses and €233 in accommodation and subsistence costs.
Total fees and expenses paid to the Nama board and committees fell by 30 per cent last year to €418,820. This was largely due to a sharp reduction in board expenses,which fell to just €8,762 last year from €162,518 in 2013.
