Appleby withdraws retirement application

The Government has been forced to break the rules of its early retirement scheme in order to save the inquiry into Anglo Irish Bank from a major setback.

Paul Appleby, the director of corporate enforcement, who is heading up the inquiry, last night agreed to withdraw his application to retire by the end of February.

He will stay on until the end of August after being offered a sweetener by the Coalition, which will see him exempt from new pension arrangements coming into effect at the end of this month.

Civil servants retiring after this date will be entitled to lower pension rates. In Mr Appleby’s case, this would have meant a lump sum of €219,000 and an annual pension of €71,000.

But Government sources said an agreement has been reached that Mr Appleby can hold onto the old rate of a €225,000 lump sum and a €73,000 a year pension — even though he will retire after the lower rates come into effect.

Mr Appleby announced yesterday morning that he will retire by the end of February, taking many ministers by surprise.

It was said to have caused serious concern at yesterday’s cabinet meeting that the investigation into the multi-billion euro scandal at the former Anglo Irish Bank would be derailed.

Mr Appleby had written to Minister for Enterprise, Richard Bruton, last Friday to inform him of his intention to retire. It is understood both men met on Monday to discuss if there were any options for keeping him on board during the course of the Anglo inquiry.

Following yesterday’s cabinet meeting, it was agreed that the Department of Public Expenditure should explore contractually how Mr Appleby could be kept on and agreement was reached.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, said he welcomed his decision to stay for a further six months.

He suggested that Mr Appleby should have given more warning in the first place about his intention to resign.

“I did ask some time ago, in the middle of last year, that anyone who was contemplating leaving would give as much warning as they could” he said.

Mr Howlin said the details of whether or not Mr Appleby would hold onto the pension benefits had still to be worked out.

Minister for Enterprise, Richard Bruton, said the arrangement reached with Mr Appleby “reflects the importance that the government accords to the crucial investigation into Anglo, and will facilitate his continued leadership at this time when substantial progress has been recently been made”