I was appointed Chairperson of the NTMA by the Minister for Finance in December 2022, succeeding Maeve Carton. Maeve was an outstanding Chairperson who brought immense expertise and insights into her role throughout her four-year term. On behalf of my Board colleagues I thank her for her leadership and wish her every success in the future.

As we are all aware, 2022 was a year of significant challenge, both in Ireland and globally. The hope that was so prevalent in the opening months of the year, as the effects of the pandemic began to recede, was overshadowed by the dreadful and tragic events in Ukraine.

In his statement, the Chief Executive, Frank O’Connor outlines the severe humanitarian and economic consequences of the Russian invasion. I would like to acknowledge the commitment and adaptability of the NTMA’s people yet again, as the Agency dealt with the challenges that came with this and the related global financial uncertainties and market volatilities.

We place a high value on the culture that exists within the Agency and the values that we aspire to. As an employer, we must ensure that we can attract and retain the right people with the right blend of skills, expertise, creativity and persistence to achieve what the Agency has been mandated to achieve. In addition, we recognise the importance of harnessing the talent at our disposal and recognising and valuing the diversity in our organisation and making everyone feel included.

We look to be a flexible, supportive and reliable employer - taking the challenge of remote working during the pandemic and evolving it into a flexible hybrid working model - by carefully listening to what people have to say, so that we can identify changes to make the organisation work even more effectively. Our employee engagement process, based around an annual survey and frequent and ongoing engagement initiatives, shows how serious we are about listening, about innovating and about changing for everyone’s benefit. While we recognise that measuring the true level of workplace inclusion can be challenging, it is pleasing to see that in our most recent employee survey, our people reported high levels of belonging, fairness and trust.