AGSI demands investigation into BoI bonuses

MIDDLE-RANKING gardaí have demanded an independent examination into bonuses paid at Bank of Ireland.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said recent revelations that the lender gave incomplete details about payments to staff over the past two years were “disturbing”.

A report earlier this year by the Department of Finance found the taxpayer-bailed-out bank did not disclose all bonuses to a government-ordered investigation.

Inspector Aidan O’Donnell, the AGSI president, pointed out two separate payments totalling nearly €1 million were among those apparently overlooked.

“We believe this matter should be referred to an independent regulatory authority for re-examination and if there is evidence of any irregularity the matter should be re-investigated and the findings referred to the appropriate authority,” he said.

Inspector O’Donnell said that as public servants, paying more than their fair share in taxes, gardaí had a right to express themselves on what the Government was doing with their money.

Bonuses of €66m were being paid to Bank of Ireland employees between September 2008 and December 2010 at a time when garda officers were subjected to destructive attacks on their wages, he said.

With further revelations of another €40m in bonus payments paid out at Allied Irish Banks, Inspector O’Donnell said the “greedy bonuses” could have gone a long way towards improving policing.

The AGSI leader said gardaí have suffered a 20% wage cut — on average about €150 a week less in their pay packets — over the last two years.

Sergeant Brian O’Dea, a member of the AGSI national executive, said the universal social charge, pay reductions, and health and pension levies left 120 members of the force effectively with no pay packet in January.

Many officers have their bills and borrowings automatically deducted from their salaries on a monthly basis under a scheme arranged by Garda credit unions.

Sergeant O’Dea, said the worst-affected members who had arranged their debt repayments before a raft of Government levies and cutbacks were left with no money in their pay cheques at the start of the year.