Pay rates in semi-state companies ‘scandalous’

PAY rates in the semi-state companies are “scandalous”, the body representing small and medium businesses has said.

ISME claims that the blame for the situation “lies squarely with semi-state boards who allowed pay rates to get out of control”.

The organisation was responding to details of semi-state pay published in the McCarthy report.

The report found that a number of semi-states had hiked pension and perks for their chief executives in the last two years to offset cuts in basic salary.

For example, the chief executive of the ESB saw his basic salary cut in 2009 from €458,000 to €432,000. But payments under the heading “other” increased from €121,000 to €248,000, which meant his total remuneration package actually increased from €654,000 to €752,000.

The report also detailed average pay across the main semi-states in 2009. This ranged from €95,600 a year at the Irish Aviation Authority and €83,400 a year in Eirgrid to €43,300 at An Post.

The report’s authors made no judgment on the salaries, but recommended that a review be conducted to see if they were in line with international equivalents.

ISME chief executive Mark Fielding, however, claimed the pay rates were “bordering on criminal” when the country was in such crisis.

“With the country bankrupt, almost half a million people out of work and businesses closing left, right and centre, it is economically and morally wrong to allow these extravagant wage levels to persist,” he said.

“It is absolutely disgraceful that the boards of these semi-states, populated in the main by political cronies, aided and abetted by worker directors, have screwed the taxpayer by awarding the cosseted workers in the semi-states exorbitant salaries way out of line with the rest of the economy.

“The lack of appropriate board expertise and fear of taking on the public sector unions has resulted in the taxpayer paying a premium for wages beyond what can be afforded.”

But Matt Staunton, national secretary of trade union IMPACT, questioned why the focus was on workers’ salaries when these were met from the semi-state’s commercial activities.

“Taxpayers don’t spend a penny on the pay of workers in the semi-state companies that I represent workers in,” he told RTÉ Radio.

“I speak for skilled, professional, technical workers such as the air traffic controllers in the Irish Aviation Authority, and let’s face it: they’re paid the going rate commensurate with their skills and qualifications.”