SOME OF THE country’s most indebted developers – some of whom now owe the state billions after their debts were taken on by the National Asset Management Agency – have agreed new deals with NAMA which will see the agency invest in their new dealings – and pay them wages of up to €200,000 a year.

The deals, reported in today’s Sunday Times, mean that the developers – who owe between €1bn and €3bn – have been told they can pay themselves the bumper salaries as part of an arrangement which will see the agency split the profits on the sale or trading-out of some assets, once the developers’ performances exceed certain targets.

The creditors are also to be allowed to keep their homes if the targets are met – but if such targets are not met, NAMA reserves the right to repossess their family homes and sell them off.

The developers involved have also been told to cash in their pensions plans, which contain millions stockpiled in retirement funds, to be used as working capital for their businesses.

Developers involved include Treasury Holdings owners Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett, Liam Carroll, Seán Mulryan of Ballymore, Bernard McNamara and Joe O’Reilly.

A NAMA spokesman told the Sunday Times that the business plans submitted by the developers which required agency approval had run into thousands of pages in some cases, and that all had substantially reduced their office overhead expenses.

While the spokesman would not speculate on the individual salaries being paid to developers, he said they had seen their wages drop by between 50% and 75%.