The NTMA has yet to recover half of the €5m stolen during a voice phishing attack last summer, the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts has heard.
The National Treasury Management Agency is responsible for managing public assets and liabilities for long term benefit on behalf of the State.
The agency oversees the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which invests in projects that support economic activity and employment in Ireland.
In July 2025, the agency received a fraudulent payment request from a third party that was designed and timed to pass as a legitimate request from an investee of the fund.
It was reported that voice impersonation and a fake invoice was used to carry out the scam.
NTMA Chief Executive Frank O'Connor told the committee that €2.5m of the stolen €5m has been recovered so far. He reiterated that there was no compromise of the NTMA's IT systems.
The committee heard that Deloitte conducted an independent forensic investigation to "establish the facts and to examine relevant internal controls".
This investigation is now completed, and the NTMA said it has engaged with the Comptroller and the Auditor General on the issue.
Mr O'Connor said enhanced controls were put in place immediately after the incident to protect it against future financial crime risks.
"Deloitte's investigation also recommended certain key measures to increase protection against similar financial crime risks, which we have implemented in full," he said.
The NTMA is continuing its efforts to recover the rest of the stolen money, Mr O'Connor said.
Mr O'Connor said that he did not "want to set expectations too high" for recovering the rest of the money.
He was responding to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly who asked how much of the €5m is expected to be recouped.
Mr O'Connor said it is "getting trickier the more time passes by". "We continue to chase," he said, adding "We are not giving up".
Mr Farrelly asked if there had been concerns raised before the incident happened that it could take place.
"Some years we do more than half a trillion in payments, so we are very active. We are also a target," responded Mr O'Connor. He said the NTMA is always trying to keep pace with potential risks.
"Unfortunately, the controls at this juncture didn't stand up to the threat actors who managed to gather non-public information quite a bit," he said.
Ireland's national debt could reach €250bn by 2030s
The committee also heard Ireland's national debt now stands at €200 billion and could reach €250bn by the 2030s.
Mr O'Connor told the committee that this would be "very high-level indebtedness" that "carries risk".
Mr O'Connor said the agency managed a national debt of around €30 billion at its inception 35 years ago, and "that was seen as high then".
The NTMA is responsible for managing public assets and liabilities for long-term benefit on behalf of the State.
He said it is something that debt managers cannot be complacent about and "the ability to service that debt is critical".
"Record low interest rates that arose from Quantitative Easing" in recent years made servicing debt "easier and cheaper," Mr O'Connor said.
TDs and senators will hear that in 2024 the cost of the NTMA servicing debt was €3.2 billion, 60% below its peak of €8 billion in 2013.
Mr O'Connor sid the NTMA "took advantage of the low-interest rate era by locking in low borrowing costs for long terms".
The agency also borrowed money early at low rates, he said, before warning "that era is now over".
"The benefits of borrowing at low fixed rates will recede, as these lower-cost debts gradually mature and are replaced with more expensive debt.
"We also have to be prepared for rates potentially rising further and the additional costs that would come with that," Mr O'Connor said.
