Average pay in semi-state companies was €55k in 2009

THE McCarthy report says Ireland should review salaries paid to employees of semi-state companies by comparing them with other countries, especially Britain.

It shows more than 40,100 people worked for semi-states in 2009, down from 40,589 in 2008.

The average working pay in 2009 across all semi-state companies was €55,000, with the average employer’s pension contribution standing at 15.7% of pay.

While the report does not say whether it believes pay is too high, it does urge benchmarking against other countries.

A comprehensive table in the report shows pay scales across all companies from 2007 to 2009.

In 2009, the ESB employed almost 7,800 people, with the average salary standing at €75,000.

Employer pension contribution as a percentage of pay for ESB employees jumped from 16.6% in 2008 — to almost 25% in 2009, bringing pay, including contribution, to €94,000 in that year.

Staff at RTÉ had an average pay of about €60,000 in 2009, with an employer pension contribution of 9.8%

The number of employees at Bord Gáis rose from 854 in 2007 to 1,006 people in 2009, earning, on average, €67,000.

In 2009, CIE had 11,463 employees with an average pay of almost €50,000 and a employer’s contribution of almost 10%. Excluding post masters, An Post employed a little more than 10,000 people in 2009, earning €43,000 on average, with an employer’s pension contribution of 13.6%.

In 2009, Bord na Móna, had 2,064 staff earning an average of €44,800.

Eirgrid staff, of whom there were 305 in 2009, earned an average of €83,400 and had an employer pension contribution of 16.3%, up from 12.1% in 2008

The DAA had more than 3,100 employees in 2009 with an average salary of almost €50,000.