Everyone from the head of Horse Racing Ireland to RTÉ will see salaries soar, the Soc Dems’ Cian O’Callaghan said, ‘despite the fact that these CEOs received a combined €75m in pay in perks over ten years’Mary Lou McDonald describes pay of €430,000 for proposed Housing Tsar as ‘cracked’
Social Democrats stand-in leader Cian O’Callaghan said there was a double standard within Government in comparison with the treatment of lower-paid workers.
Everyone from the head of Horse Racing Ireland to RTÉ will see salaries soar, Mr O’Callaghan said, “despite the fact that these CEOs received a combined €75m in pay in perks over 10 years”, according to one assessment.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers yesterday published the Review of Remuneration of Chief Executive Officers in Commercial State Bodies.
The report found that CEO remuneration packages have “fallen out of alignment with the market”, according to a statement from Mr Chambers’ office.
He said: “A banded salary structure will be implemented for CEOs ranging from their current salary to the market median of the relevant band.
“In line with the SPRC findings in relation to increased flexibility for Boards, the Boards will propose a point on the banded salary structure ranging from the current fixed point salary to the relevant market median.
“Salary proposals or any changes will be subject to governance and scrutiny with approval required by the relevant Minister, and with my consent. There will be no backdating of any changes to pay.
“I will be writing to my colleagues regarding the operational details of this in the coming weeks.”
But Mr O’Callaghan today claimed the Government was boosting the pay of semi-state chiefs without any references at all to “economic headwinds, tariffs or global volatility when it comes to gold plated salaries”.
“For those the top, it seems these are concerns that are not worth mentioning. Compare that with how people in low pay are treated, and the Government’s shameful decision to postpone the introduction of a living wage,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
An improvement in sick leave for ordinary workers has also been put on the chopping block, he said, “and in a triple-whammy, plans to introduce pension auto-enrolment have also been kicked down the road yet again”.
People are struggling to make ends meet, to keep their homes heated, their rent paid and the bills from piling up, he said.
Yet the Government has mounted a “despicable attack on low-paid workers”, he said, adding that “people should be able to live a full and dignified life and not just scrape by day to day”.
Prices for goods and services are 42pc higher in Ireland than in other European countries, while there had been a huge increase in inflation since Russia invaded Ukraine, he added.
“The cost of living is skyrocketing, and you expect people to get by on €13.50 an hour,” he told Micheál Martin.
“Why does this Government believe that those at the top deserve bumper salary increases while low paid workers are thrown under the bus?”
Mr Martin avoided addressing the pay increases for semi-state bosses, instead emphasising Government progress on statutory sick pay and the minimum wage.
The 2022 Sick Leave Act had increased the entitlement from three to five days, he said, while acknowledging that a further proposed increase to seven days had been paused.
He said the Government had steadily increased the minimum wage, while a short postponement on auto-enrolment was “hardly trampling on someone’s rights”.
Housing Tsar
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has said the Government will progress the appointment of the head of the Housing Activation Office in the time ahead.
Mr Martin was tackled again by Sinn Féin about the reported plan to appoint Brendan McDonagh, who is currently on secondment to Nama from the National Treasury Management Agency, on a salary of €430,000.
“That level, almost half a million euros to take up the responsibilities of the Housing Minister, is cracked,” said Mary Lou McDonald in the Dáil.
“To tell you the God’s honest truth, most people who job share take home half a wage. You want this individual to take home almost half a million,” she told the Taoiseach.
She suggested he was “on a solo run on this”, saying his “friends in Fine Gael” had expressed disquiet.
Ms McDonald called on Mr Martin to justify the salary to people who were struggling, asking if he had “come to your senses, having had the night to sleep on it”.
Mr Martin said: “No decision has been made in terms of the person who’s going to head that up [the Housing Activiation Office].”
But he added that there were people within the public service working for substantial reward.
“You know that,” he told Ms McDonald. “You’ve heard of the NTMA. It was in 1989 that the NTMA was established. It’s there for 35 years,” he said.
But on the head of the new office, “no decision has been made in terms of that individual, and the Government will decide in the time ahead”, Mr Martin said.
The Housing Minister James Browne hit back at claims made this week that it appears there is little confidence in the Wexford TD’s ability to deliver housing to the nation, while he also defended Fianna Fáil’s controversial plans to appoint a “housing tsar” at €430,000 a year.
The plans to appoint Minister Browne’s preferred choice for the role, Chief Executive of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), Brendan McDonagh, came to light in the media, leaving their coalition colleagues in the dark. The apparent lack of transparency from Fianna Fáil caused anger from all angles in the Dáil.
In defending the party’s large-scale plans, Minister Browne told the Irish Independent that, since his appointment to the role 12 weeks ago, he has “hit the ground running with the decisions around the National Planning Framework, and the Planning and the Development Act.”
He continued: “And here we are, setting up the Housing Activation Office,” of which he said is a “really crucial office”. The Minister confidently added that it is “the right strategy to get housing built in this country.”
Fianna Fáil plans to appoint Mr McDonagh to lead the Housing Activation Office while retaining his €430,000 salary as Nama boss, in addition to benefits, which will be funded by the Department of Finance.
“We have to ensure that our strategy is turning into homes and real keys for people, so they can live in those homes,” the Minister continued. “That’s what we’re doing with this Housing Activation Office, as it’ll mean more boots on the ground, unlocking sites to get houses built right across the country”.
When Minister Browne was later asked about the comments made about him in the Dáil, he hit back and said: “Do you know what? Politics and spin and words are not going to build one house.”
“What will build houses is the right strategy and the right operations on the ground. That’s part of what the Housing Activation Office is,” he concluded.
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