Two developers whose loans are in the National Asset Management Agency are being paid €200,000 a year.
In some instances developers can also receive commission, it has emerged. A total of between 110 to 120 developers are being paid by NAMA.
The agency's chairman Frank Daly told the Public Accounts Committee it was a commercial decision to pay developers who co-operated with the agency.
The majority receive between €70,000 to €110,000, but two major developers are in receipt of €200,000. Payment to developers were made on a case-by-case basis in the interest of getting a return for the taxpayer, Mr Daly said.
He would not reveal the identity of the two developers receiving €200,000 each due to confidentiality restrictions.
Mr Daly said he understood the sensitivities about paying developers, but NAMA had to take a commercial decision. He said employing professional external asset managers would cost a lot more.
NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh later said NAMA was not paying developers directly, but allowing them an allocation from rental income they were bringing in from properties.
He said some developers were not producing any cashflow - particularly in cases where their main assets were residential properties which were not selling. Mr McDonagh said the agency was not paying salaries to developers with no cashflow.
Developers who sell properties for more than the price NAMA paid can get a 10% commission of the surplus if they reach financial milestones.
Anglo building talks at "sensitive" stage
The NAMA chief said there were a number of interested parties looking at making "credible offers" for the unfinished Anglo Irish Bank building in Dublin's docklands.
He said talks were at a "sensitive" stage, but he hoped the process would be concluded by the end of November.
Mr McDonagh said the agency would suffer an impairment charge on its assets in 2011, the second year in a row it will have to do so.
He said one of the main factors holding the housing market back was the lack of availabilty of mortgage finance from the banks.
Mr McDonagh said that, in one case, NAMA had lowered the price of homes at a development in north Dublin by €100,000, adding that 25 units had then been sold after two weekends.
The NAMA chief said it would pursue every penny from debtors where it makes economic sense. He told the Public Accounts Committee there was a misperception that debtors did not have to pay in full. He said NAMA would pursue all debts.
Mr McDonagh said NAMA was taking a charge over some debtors' pension funds, adding that there was "huge resistance" to this.
Mr McDonagh also said NAMA was working closely with 188 debtors. 143 business plans have been assessed and the rest are currently being reviewed. He said the agency had appointed around 90 receivers so far, 43 linked to the top 180 borrowers.
The committee also heard today that NAMA is exposed to the Irish property market to the tune of €4 billion. NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh said the majority of the property is in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, and most of the property is apartments.
