Meet Michael Somers Irelands highest paid civil servant (probably!!)

jonsnow

Like most people I had never heard of Michael Somers the Head of the National Treasury Management Agency until he took gave evidence before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee where he basically slammed the governments plans for the new NAMA organisation.
I was surprised to read reports that he is alleged to have been paid €1 million a year as the head of the NTMA.I had always assumed that the top civil servant in the land would be making around 400,000k a year along with all their ridiculously sweet perks.But nobody knows how much somers is actually paid because he has never revealed it and it is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.When pressed to reveal to his employers-ie. the taxpayer, in the grand tradition of the openness and transparency of the Irish Civil Service he replied "No, I do not intend to say".However he assured us that "I could have been on a pension years ago, so they are getting a good deal".
He has spent his entire career inside the civil service and has been in charge of the NTMA since its establishment in the early 90s- which is universally considered bad financial practice.By all accounts he has done an ok job.Which is better than 90% of our political and financial elite in the last few years.I know there are arguments for paying peanuts and getting monkeys.But his longrunning appointment, his arrogance and his lack of accountability to the Irish taxpayer who pays his wages is in my opinion yet another example of how so much is wrong with how our country is run.

Count Dooku

You can pay big bucks and still get monkey.
He is professional civil servant with relatively small knowledge of economy. He knows too much about recent scams with government bonds and FF cannot afford that this truth will be exposed to public now.
Another year on this position and he can retire peacefully

is_that_so

Seeing as the NTMA does some extremely important work I have no objection to what he gets. The NTMA is responsible for managing our national debt. They also look after the National Pension Reserve Fund, both jobs they do pretty well. When you compare how bankers have been rewarded he's cheap at the price. He btw advocated getting rid of all of our bankers some time back on the grounds that they had run the banks into the ground.

Incidentally here's a brief biography from 2001. Not all civil servants are self-serving and sucking the State dry.

http://www.finance.irlgov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1325&CatID=1&m=&StartDate=01+January+2001

Michael Somers was appointed to the post of chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency in December 1990. Before that he held the post of Secretary, National Debt Management in the Department of Finance from April, 1987. He was appointed Secretary, Department of Defence in 1985. Most of his previous experience had been in the Department of Finance and he also spent a period in the Central Bank. He was a member of the Audit Committee of the European Investment Bank until June 2000 and was a member of the E.C. Monetary Committee until his appointment as Chief Executive. He was chairman of the group that drafted the National Development Plan 1989-1993 and was chairman of the European Community Group that established the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for which the President of France awarded him the honour of Chevalier in the Légion d'Honneur.

He is a director of the Irish Stock Exchange and of the University College Dublin Foundation Limited., a member of the Council of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and of the Council of the Financial Services Industry Association and Chairman of Ulysses Securitisation plc.

He holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from the National University of Ireland.

I fail to see the problem here really..

Count Dooku

is_that_so wrote: »

Seeing as the NTMA does some extremely important work I have no objection to what he gets. The NTMA is responsible for managing our national debt.

Rody Molloy and Pat Neary were also doing "extremely important work"
Do you think that he didn't know that Irish banks were creating illusion of demand for Irish government bonds?
Next time investors will buy Irish with triple care and can charge more interest then country can afford

Mr.Micro

I saw Somers during the week on Oireachtas report and he came across as clueless to me, whether he was being obtuse deliberately is another matter. He did not appear to know anything about NAMA or what his role or the role of his department would be in relation to same. He basically said it would be open house for the courts/lawyers as the NAMA thing was fraught with legal complexities.

P. Breathnach

Count Dooku wrote: »

You can pay big bucks and still get monkey.
He is professional civil servant with relatively small knowledge of economy. He knows too much about recent scams with government bonds and FF cannot afford that this truth will be exposed to public now.
Another year on this position and he can retire peacefully

Do you actually know anything about him, or do you simply toss out allegations like that without any regard for truth?

P. Breathnach

Mr.Micro wrote: »

I saw Somers during the week on Oireachtas report and he came across as clueless to me, whether he was being obtuse deliberately is another matter. He did not appear to know anything about NAMA or what his role or the role of his department would be in relation to same. He basically said it would be open house for the courts/lawyers as the NAMA thing was fraught with legal complexities.

That seems quite insightful to me.

Count Dooku

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Do you actually know anything about him, or do you simply toss out allegations like that without any regard for truth?

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/banks-using-ecb-funds-to-buy-bonds-1727349.html

It has emerged that the banks were "active" in a recent Irish government bond sale of about €1bn, and it was confirmed yesterday the repossession of Irish bonds at the ECB has occurred.
Irish banks are using ECB funds to "create the illusion" of demand on the international markets.

Do you believe that he didn’t know about it?

is_that_so

Count Dooku wrote: »

Rody Molloy and Pat Neary were also doing "extremely important work"
Do you think that he didn't know that Irish banks were creating illusion of demand for Irish government bonds?
Next time investors will buy Irish with triple care and can charge more interest then country can afford

The NTMA have nothing whatsoever to do with banks, banking, FAS nor the Financial Regulator.

Mr.Micro wrote: »

I saw Somers during the week on Oireachtas report and he came across as clueless to me, whether he was being obtuse deliberately is another matter. He did not appear to know anything about NAMA or what his role or the role of his department would be in relation to same. He basically said it would be open house for the courts/lawyers as the NAMA thing was fraught with legal complexities.

The emphasis was on the potential legal difficulties with it. My own understanding of NAMA is that it still hasn't been fully worked out nor has the remit of the NTMA in relation to it, although it will be under the NTMA umbrella, so nothing obtuse in that. He was just being honest. Mind you with Tommy Broughan laying into me I might be a bit remiss as well.

P. Breathnach

Count Dooku wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/banks-using-ecb-funds-to-buy-bonds-1727349.html

Do you believe that he didn’t know about it?

And how does that indicate that "he is professional civil servant with relatively small knowledge of economy" or that he is doing anything other than a good job? What is he supposed to do: precipitate a crisis?

Count Dooku

P. Breathnach wrote: »

And how does that indicate that "he is professional civil servant with relatively small knowledge of economy" or that he is doing anything other than a good job? What is he supposed to do: precipitate a crisis?

It depends who will win from his job.
Ireland as debtor won in short term, but lost in long term. Next time country will have to pay more interests on bonds. Taxpayers will have to pay for his incompetence.
FF’s also are winners, because they will be not wiped out on local elections.
PS unions will win, because summer is time, when PS strikes will not draw much attention. Their major weapons of PS unions are teachers strikes, welfare office closures and hospital closures.
But current situation in welfare offices and hospitals is not much different from strike, so only first can draw attention from public.
Everybody else will lose.

P. Breathnach

I am tempted to ask you to explain what you have said, but I don't think I really want any more of this kind of stuff.

silverharp

is he the same guy (head of NTMA) that was bitching back in 02 that the ratings agencies were holding off giving Ireland AAA rating, he quipped that Ireland will have paid off its national debt before they give the AAA rating, my thought at the time was smug git.

grahamo

Count Dooku wrote: »

It depends who will win from his job.
Ireland as debtor won in short term, but lost in long term. Next time country will have to pay more interests on bonds. Taxpayers will have to pay for his incompetence.

What incompetence? He has worked in finance throughout the EU and done a good job wherever he went. Have you made that up?

Count Dooku wrote: »

FF’s also are winners, because they will be not wiped out on local elections..

WTF? how do you work that out?

Count Dooku wrote: »

PS unions will win, because summer is time, when PS strikes will not draw much attention. Their major weapons of PS unions are teachers strikes, welfare office closures and hospital closures.
But current situation in welfare offices and hospitals is not much different from strike, so only first can draw attention from public.
Everybody else will lose.

Strikes in Summer don't draw much attention??? Well then how is that good for unions?

MikeC101

I thought he came across quite well in the (admittedly brief) excerpt they played on the radio.

His point seemed to be that the government were touting the NTMA as the ones who were going to run NAMA, but that NTMA had essentially not been told anything about this, that he felt it was very different from their remit, and that they did not have the expertise to perform this task.

What's wrong with that?

Firetrap

I think some people are rocking in the aisles too much from the mantra that public servants couldn't find their ar$es with both hands and a flashlight.