21% payouts for senior Central Bank staff queried by Department of Public Expenditure's Robert Watt

A senior government official has said the Central Bank needs to “satisfy themselves they are compliant with the law” after revelations managers have been given retention payments worth 21% of their salaries at the same time as workers have faced 20% cuts.

In a statement yesterday, the Central Bank confirmed it began making the payments to a select number of staff, in 2014, in order to ensure they could continue to convince potential employees to work for them.

In total, approximately 30 staff, the majority of whom are in junior management positions, shared €500,000 in extra funds last year, a figure that equates to €16,000 per person.