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10 October 2012

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NAMA spends equivalent of 28,000 home help hours on recruitment – Pearse Doherty

'The Fine Gael/Labour Coalition is slashing €8million of home help hours yet NAMA appears to be permitted to spend taxpayers’ money at will'

THE COST of NAMA recruiting staff since 2011 would pay for 28,000 home help hours, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said today.

A parliamentary question by the Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson revealed that more than €500,000 has been spent by the National Asset Management Agency on the recruitment of staff since 2011.

“This is recruitment costs alone – it’s not salaries,” Pearse Doherty made clear.

NAMA spent €316,000 in 2011 and a further €197,000 this year (to date) on recruiting staff. So far this year, NAMA has recruited 28 staff – that works out at €7,035 per staff member.

Pearse Doherty (pictured) PearseDohertyPsaid:

“This is an utter squander of public money at a time when allegedly every cent is being counted in Government departments. It harks back to the early part of the last decade when waste was glossed over and over-spending was the norm. Here we have 460,000 people on the Live Register and NAMA is spending €500,000 on recruiting staff.

“To put it in perspective, that €500,000-plus, if redirected, could save 28,000 home help hours for some of the most vulnerable people in this state. The Fine Gael//Labour Coalition is slashing €8million of home help hours yet NAMA appears to be permitted to spend taxpayers’ money at will.

“The Government and the management at NAMA have to answer why such waste is occurring with public money, public money which would be far better spent elsewhere.”

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