Key team members : Susan O’Halloran, Chief Legal Officer, Alison Hodge (Head of NTMA Legal Unit); Aoife Gibson (Senior Legal Advisor – ISIF Legal Team Co-ordinator); Ciara O’Donovan (Senior Legal Advisor); Dermot Marah (Senior Legal Advisor); Eibhlin O’Donnell (Senior Legal Advisor); Eoin Creaner (Legal Advisor); Hilary Callanan (Senior Legal Advisor); Joanne Conlon (Senior Legal Advisor); John Barrett (Senior Legal Advisor); Louise McAuliffe (Senior Legal Advisor); Niamh Quinn (Senior Legal Advisor); Philip O’Sullivan (Senior Legal Advisor); Sean Dowling (Legal Advisor); Sinead Lavelle (Senior Legal Advisor); and Sinead Treacy (Legal Advisor).

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The NTMA legal unit is a corporate function within the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) and provides a wide range of legal services to all core business units and corporate functions of the NTMA, including: (i) the funding and debt management unit responsible for issuing and managing Ireland’s national debt (including the State Savings suite of products); (ii) supporting the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund with the structuring, negotiation, documentation and completion of a wide range of investments/ realisations; (iii) providing legal input on NewERA’s range of workstreams in its role of providing corporate finance advice to government departments; (iv) the National Development Agency in its role of procuring and advising on Ireland’s PPP programme and other significant infrastructure projects (v) advising on legal aspects of all proposed and ongoing tender competitions and completion of contracts for the purchase of goods and services across the NTMA, (vi) providing legal support on various HR and pension scheme matters; (vii) advising on governance (viii) support provided to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland; and (vii) providing legal support for NTMA’s management role in respect of the Ireland Apple Escrow Fund.

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

Managing the advent of hybrid working has naturally led to needing, as a team, to adapt to new ways of working and ensuring that whilst leveraging the flexibility that this way of working provides to team members that we continue both as a team and as individuals to deliver on the NTMA mandates for the benefit of our stakeholders.

Has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities, and if so how?

The NTMA plays an important role in supporting government meeting its climate objectives, acting as a conduit between public and private sector. The Government’s Climate Action Plan Annex of Actions indicates the NTMA acting as a stakeholder on a range of issues including, for example green bonds. The NTMA’s climate strategy supports the delivery of government climate action initiatives through its various mandates, builds on its leadership role in sustainable finance and targets being a Net Zero emissions organization by 2030. Accordingly, the oversight and monitoring of the NTMA’s Climate Action Strategy is a priority for the NTMA’s Board and Executive Management Team. The NTMA Sustainability Group, established in 2019, oversees delivery of the NTMA Climate Action Strategy while also facilitating cross unit collaboration and information sharing with respect to climate-related activities. The Sustainability Group is responsible for the delivery of specific targets contained in NTMA’s Climate Action Strategy and focuses on climate-related matters within the NTMA business mandates and in its business processes. These include such matters as developments in Ireland’s Sovereign Green Bonds, investment policies, infrastructure developments, and climate-related financial advice to government departments including in relation to state owned entities. Representatives from the corporate functions, which include NTMA legal, ensure co-ordination, support and oversight of climate action matters across the organisation. The NTMA legal team supports the various business units on climate and sustainability related matters from a legal perspective.