The Department of Finance has no record of the process by which the seven members of the National Pensions Reserve Fund were selected and appointed by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
A request under the Freedom of Information Act for "all records relating to the appointment of the members of the National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission" produced no documents covering the appointment of the members of the commission, which will be responsible for up to €30 billion (£24 billion) of State funds over the next 25 years.
A Department official subsequently confirmed that a search of the Department had unearthed no documentation relevant to the request. The only records that existed and which were released related to correspondence with a number of individuals who sought unsuccessfully to become commissioners or were nominated by third parties. They do not include any of the individuals who were actually appointed by Mr McCreevy. There is no documentary evidence that the seven members appointed by Mr McCreevy were vetted in any way by the Department. Mr Jim Mitchell, the deputy leader of Fine Gael and party spokesman on finance, said that he plans to raise the issue in the Dail. Mr Mitchell said the appointments should be vetted by the appropriate Dail committee. "This is the Minister doing his own thing," he said.
The appointment of the seven was announced by Mr McCreevy on March 6th. The chairman is Mr Donal Geaney, the chairman and chief executive of Elan Corporation. The other members are Mr Robert J. Curran, second secretary in the Department of Finance; Ms Brid Horan, general manager pensions with the ESB; Dr Martin Kohlhaussen, the chairman of the board of managing directors, Commerzbank; Mr Donald Roth, managing partner, the Emerging Markets Partnership; Mr Daniel Tully, chairman emeritus of Merrill Lynch & Co; and Dr Michael Somers, chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency. Several of the commissioners may find themselves faced with potential conflicts of interest given their other activities.
The fund already has some £5 billion in cash, made up of the proceeds of the sale of Telecom Eireann in 1999 and contributions from the Exchequer. The Government is committed to contribute at least 1 per cent of GNP to the fund from now until 2025. The contents of the fund will then become available to the Government to help meet the State and public sector pension bill. It is intended to offset the fall in the ratio of taxpayers to pensioners as the population ages. The fund is to be invested, under the management of the National Treasury Management Agency, in the global capital markets.
Fine Gael TD Mr Alan Dukes was among the individuals nominated as commissioners by third parties. His name was put forward by Mr Edmund Honohan SC. In his letter to Mr McCreevy, the barrister said he had not discussed his proposal with Mr Dukes or made him aware that he was proposing him. Mr Dukes did not become aware of his nomination until last month when the Department told him it planned to release Mr Honohan's letter to The Irish Times.
Mr Douglas Bonnar of Foxrock, Co Dublin, put himself forward, as did Mr Desmond MacIntyre, the chief financial officer of Asset International, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based financial services group. Mr Frank Deane was proposed by a Mr Anthony Kerwin of Dublin. The Freedom of Information request was made by The Irish Times on March 9th, three days after the membership of the commission was announced.
