FIGURES RELEASED BY Minister for Finance Michael Noonan show that the head of the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation (IBRC) was paid more than €600,000 in temporary allowances between 2009 and 2011.
Sinn Féin Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, in a Dáil question about the salary paid to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the IBRC, Mike Aynsley.
In his response, Minister Noonan revealed that between 2009 and 2011, Aynsley was paid €97,000 in benefits and €622,000 in temporary allowances, with another €38,000 forecast in benefits (and zero for temporary allowances) for this year.
His pension totalled €290,000 from 2009 – 2011, with a further €125,000 forecast for this year.
The allowances and benefits were in addition to his salary, which totalled €1,160,000 between 2009 – 2011 and is forecast to be €500,000 in 2012.
It was also revealed last week that six current executives at the former Anglo Irish Bank earn in excess of €500,000 a year – despite the government’s cap on remuneration packages for bankers being set at half a million euro.
After Aynsley was criticised last week at an Oireachtas committee over his salary, IBRC chairman Alan Dukes said the Australian, who relocated to Ireland to help wind down the bank, is “worth it”.
Pay cuts
Doherty further inquired whether Minister Noonan has contacted the IBRC requesting staff whose annual salary is in excess of €200,000 to waive 15 per cent of their salary or an amount in excess of €200,000, whichever is the lesser.
Minister Noonan replied that at a meeting on 5 April 2012, he asked Alan Dukes if the board of the bank would consider a reduction of 15 per cent in senior management salaries.
Mr Dukes subsequently informed me that reductions in pay levels for individual staff in IBRC [...] had been considered by the board of the bank and that a decision had been reached not to implement cuts at that time.
The Finance Minister said he is informed by the Bank that the decision not to pursue pay cuts “was based on the difficulty faced by the Bank in retaining and attracting staff, and the fact that the remuneration packages paid to the new management team are lower than those historically paid by the Bank”.
Fees for Non-Executive Directors were initially reduced by 20 per cent at the end of 2008 and by a further 15 per cent in July of 2012.
Contract
Deputy Doherty also asked the Minister if he would confirm Aynsley is employed on a continuing or permanent contract and if he will quantify any termination payments provided for under the contract.
Minister Noonan said he has been advised by IBRC that Aynsley is a permanent employee of the bank. His contract was entered into in August 2009 and was effective from 7 September 2009. The normal termination date of the contract is upon the CEO’s 60th birthday, which is 24 March 2018.
Standard termination payments in lieu of notice exist. All temporary allowances are paid only in respect of vouched and receipted expenditure.
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