The final wind-down of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) left a bill of almost €8 million in termination payments for staff this year.

New figures show that 54 employees were eligible for payments of €7.96 million, an average cost of about €147,000 per employee.

The highest cost was just over €4 million in ex-gratia redundancy payments, which was shared among 47 departing staff.

A further €1.53 million was paid in salary to those 47 employees while they were on gardening leave, according to records released under Freedom of Information legislation.

Retention payments of €1.13 million were also payable to 49 employees as the asset management agency shut its doors.

Seven staff were subsequently transferred to the Resolution Unit of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). That unit will oversee the management and disposal of Nama’s remaining assets.

A detailed breakdown of €6.43 million in payments shows that €681,000 was paid out in statutory redundancy. A further €4.1 million was paid in “ex-gratia redundancy” with additional payments of €172,000 and €249,000 respectively for employer PRSI and employer pension.

There were retention payments of €1.1 million, and €127,000 in employer PRSI on those lump sums.

Nama said “only contractual remuneration” was paid during gardening leave. Just under €270,000 was paid out for untaken annual leave, the records also showed.

Asked about the payments for untaken holidays, an NTMA spokesperson said this was additional to the €7.9 million in termination benefits.

Nama’s 2024 annual report had estimated that the cost of payouts for staff leaving would be in the region of €12.4 million. However, the spokesperson said overall costs so far included payments made last year and this year, with further payments scheduled for 2027.

They said: “The difference between this figure and the €12.4 million figure in the 2024 Nama annual report is primarily attributable to payments made in 2025 and payments that are scheduled to be made after certain staff members’ fixed-term contracts come to an end in 2027.”

Nama was officially dissolved during the summer, 17 years after it was set up to manage toxic loans from the financial crisis.

When it finished its work, it still held residential assets of about €22 million. It also had €50 million in cash that was handed over to the NTMA, while property assets worth €425 million were transferred to the Land Development Agency in 2025.