To start with, I’m not inciting any sort of criminal act, just drawing attention to the vast wealth and earnings that will be on display at the High Court tomorrow when Paddy McKillen’s judicial review case kicks off. The hearing is to consider Paddy’s application for a judicial review and if the application is accepted, then there will be a hearing that is pencilled in to last for two weeks. Whilst a number of the participants’ salaries is not yet known, no doubt some of the gaps will get filled in as the case progresses. The dedicated “Paddy McKillen versus NAMA” page has now been moved to the TAB above where you can find all the background to the case together with the most up to date news and the NAMA Business Plan tab has been moved to the About tab.
The parties
Paddy McKillen (wealth of GBP £66m – €78m, according to the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List – the man himself keeps a low profile and his annual income is not known)
versus
(1) NAMA – affidavits on behalf of NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh (salary €500k+ according to the Sunday Tribune) and NAMA’s Head of Tax and Legal, Aideen O’Reilly (salary unknown) and Head of Portfolio Management, John Mulcahy (salary unknown – his 11 former fellow directors at Jones Lang Lasalle were paid an average of €373,416 in 2009 according to the latest JLL annual report).
(2) Attorney General, Paul Gallagher SC (salary unknown)
(3) The State – according to the NTMA this morning the national debt stands at €87bn though this excludes €12bn of NAMA bonds and subordinated debt guaranteed by the State and also the €2.5bn NAMA State-backed euro commercial paper programme aimed at providing working capital and development funds to NAMA’s developers. Kidnapping the State mightn’t be so wise.
The legal teams
Paddy’s men
Counsel Michael Cush, Brian Kennedy, Shane Murphy and John Gleeson
Solicitors Eugene F Collins
For the State, the AG and NAMA
Counsel Brian Murray, Maurice Collins
Solicitor David J. O’ Hagan
The salaries are unknown but the Independent, citing “well informed sources” said that when the current Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, accepted his new role he took a €1.5m cut in his income. Now Paul Gallagher may have been regarded as the best of the bunch but annual fees of over €1m would not be extraordinary for better counsel.
The witnesses
(1) Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (economist, salary unknown, his 1/3rd share in th 2001 Nobel Prize for economics was worth about €400,000)
(2) Jim Power (economist at Friends First in Ireland, salary unknown)
(3) Michael Cragg (Professor of Economics at Columbia University, salary unknown)
(4) Joe Belanger (Economics consultant at the Brattle Group, salary unknown)
(5) Ciarán Ó hOghartaigh (Professor of Accounting at University College Dublin, salary range for a professor at UCD is €107,964 – €146,022)
(6) Connor O’Malley (UK banking consultant, salary unknown)
(7) John Trench (“workout guru” at British company Risk Reward, salary unknown)
The State, AG and NAMA
(1) Matthew Webster (HSBC Global Head of Real Estate Financing, salary unknown)
(2) Ian Goldsworthy (HSBC Head of Real Estate, Global Banks and Marketing, salary unknown)
(3) Philip R Lane (Professor of International Macroeconomics at Trinity College Dublin, the salary range for professors at TCD in 2010 is apparently €113,604 – €145, 952)
(4) Dermot McAleese (Professor of Political Economy at Trinity College Dublin, the salary range for professors at TCD in 2010 is apparently €113,604 – €145, 952)
The judges
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns (salary €275,000)
Mr Justice Peter Kelly (salary €243,000)
Mr Justice Frank Clarke (salary €243,000)
NAMA Wine Lake 
http://www.ucd.ie/hr/add/salary_scales/scales.htm
Wow. I’m not an academic, but that looks like a lot of money to me. Was that the point?
Point wasn’t to focus on academia – just the earnings of those participating in this case. And the academic’s earnings will be dwarfed by the barristers and probably many of the other witnesses. This entry will be updated as new information is gathered.