Agency was determined to defy on payout for chief

THE determination of Coillte to defy angry protests from government in order to pay its chief executive a €56,000 bonus has been revealed.

Internal correspondence, released under the Freedom of Information Act and a flavour of which is outline above, showed how the board rejected calls by the then minister to cancel David Gunning’s bonus throughout 2009.

The forestry company released it in late 2010 without inviting a departmental representative to the relevant remuneration committee meeting.