Collier bows to pressure in bonus dispute

DUBLIN Airport Authority boss Declan Collier has bowed to Government pressure and relinquished his controversial €100,000-plus bonus.

It came after Transport Minister Leo Varadkar threatened not to reappoint DAA board members when their terms expired towards the end of the year.

The Minister later said he hoped the weekend stand-off would serve to warn other semi-state companies who defied Government policy.

The controversy erupted on Friday after the DAA revealed in its annual report that Mr Collier’s overall remuneration package had increased from €568,100 to €612,500 last year despite the state urging pay restraint in the semi-state sector.

The principle reason was performance-related bonus payments of €106,100, which more than compensated for the €11,900 cut which Mr Collier took to his basic pay.

Although payment of the bonuses had been deferred until Mr Collier’s contract ended, Mr Varadkar made clear his anger, saying he had ordered semi-states under his aegis not to award any bonuses for 2010.

Although lacking the legal power to stop the bonus, the minister upped the ante over the weekend, threatening not to reappoint directors when their terms expired.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan echoed that threat at lunchtime yesterday, saying: “The Irish taxpayer is the 100% shareholder in the DAA. Now, if directors cannot agree with the view of the shareholder, and the shareholder is represented by the minister, I’d ask the question: what are they doing staying on?”

The DAA bowed to the pressure late yesterday afternoon, saying in a short statement that Mr Collier would “forgo performance-related pay in respect of 2010” in light of “prevailing national economic circumstances”.

The statement proceeded to defend the board’s original decision to award the bonus. “The board of DAA had approved a performance-related payment in respect of 2010 to Mr Collier based on the achievement, as per his contract, of rigorous performance-related targets that year.

“In light of prevailing national economic circumstances, the board and Mr Collier had agreed to defer payment until the termination of his contract.

“Based on legal advice, the board was obliged to account for this potential liability and accordingly had made provision for this in DAA’s 2010 financial statements, published last Friday, June 24.”

It’s understood Mr Collier’s decision to forgo the bonus followed intense discussions between board members over the weekend, although a DAA spokesman refused to comment on this.

It was also signalled to the DAA that Mr Varadkar wanted an announcement from the authority before he appeared on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics programme last night. On that show Mr Varadkar accepted he had not seen eye-to-eye with the recently-departed DAA chairman David Dilger on the issue of Mr Collier’s pay. This had been one of the reasons why he stepped down, the minister said. Mr Varadkar said he was glad the board and Mr Collier had changed their position.

“I would have preferred if the board [of the DAA] had respected Government policy,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said the battle over Mr Collier’s bonus would “help send a message” across the semi-state sector that Government policy on pay and bonuses would have to be obeyed.