Average €54k for Bord Gáis staff

Bord Gáis workers are to receive a bumper payment of an average of €54,000 as part of the unwinding of the company’s Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP).

In total the unwinding of the ESOP will result in a windfall of around €53.6m spilt between more than 1,000 people. The payout has been triggered by the sale of Bord Gáis Energy to a consortium made up of British Gas owner Centrica, Brookfield Renewables and iCON Infrastructure.

The creation of Irish Water within Bord Gáis has also complicated the operation of the ESOP.

The payouts will average just under €54,000, with the highest payments at €66,000. No member of the ESOP will receive less than €17,000. The payments will be tax free and spread over five years,

When the ESOP was established at the tail-end of Bertie Ahern’s tenure as taoiseach in 2008 there were 1,001 members of the scheme. Around 750 still work with the company, while about 250 are retired or working elsewhere, but retain their stake in the company.

Amongst those who will receive a payment from the ESOP are two former CEOs of the company John Mullins and Gerry Walsh.

The scheme was introduced after three years of negotiations between unions and the government and was supposed to reward staff for gains in productivity. It was one of the final acts of Mr Ahern’s reign and it transferred a 3.27% shareholding to the unions in return for €32m in productivity savings between 2005 and 2009. Staff taken on after this date will get nothing.

The unwinding of the ESOP is not the only perk that Bord Gáis employees will receive this year with staff who transfer out of Bord Gáis and into the private sector as part of the sale of the energy generation arm of the company receiving a compensation payment of €4,000.

This one-off disruption payment will be made to staff who transfer to the private sector although they have received assurances that none of their current terms and conditions of employment will be altered.

The head of the business body Isme said that it was another example of the poor management of public assets by politicians.

“It is indicative of the way the public sector and assets in the public’s hand tend to be treated. You wouldn’t get it in the private sector.”