Anger over €25k bonus for head of consumer agency

THE payment of a €25,000 bonus to National Consumer Agency (NCA) chief executive, Ann Fitzgerald, was strongly criticised yesterday by opposition politicians and former supermarket boss Ben Dunne.

The payment, which comes on top of a salary of €186,891 was paid to Ms Fitzgerald last summer, just as the consumer watchdog undertook a campaign to highlight exorbitant prices in the Irish retail sector.

Fine Gael enterprise and employment spokesman Leo Varadkar said paying such large bonuses “was a disgrace.” He renewed his party’s call for all public service bonuses to be halted.