Bruton insists Appleby not paid more in extension deal

Paul Appleby did not get anything above what he was entitled to in an agreement with Government to stay on as Director of Corporate Enforcement, according Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton.

Mr Appleby secured a lump sum payment of €225,000 and an annual pension of €73,000 by availing of the Government’s early retirement scheme in February.

He agreed to stay on as acting director of corporate enforcement for six months until a replacement was found to oversee the office’s inquiry into Anglo Irish Bank.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show he may not have been entitled to retire early in his position as director. He therefore opted to resign as director, returning to the position of principal officer in the civil service before retiring and being reappointed in an acting role.

Correspondence from the Department of Enterprise to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, dated Feb 2, said: “His contract as director stated that the post of director was an unestablished post.

“Given that all unestablished posts carry a minimum pension age of 65, Mr Appleby chose to resign as director prior to his retirement from the civil service.”

Mr Bruton said yesterday the Government had “made a very clear decision that we wanted to maintain continuity in respect of the investigation of the Anglo Irish case”.

He described it as a “very important case in which there is huge interest” and the agreement reached with Mr Appleby secured the outcome the Government had wished for.

“The arrangement that was made with Paul Appleby doesn’t add in any way to what his entitlement was,” the minister said.

“He hasn’t benefited as a result of this in any way, other than what he would have been entitled to,” he added.

Internal correspondence shows Mr Bruton was told of Mr Appleby’s intention to retire on January 16 — two weeks before he informed the Cabinet on Tuesday, February 1.

Asked yesterday why he had not told his colleagues earlier, Mr Bruton said: “The discussion I had with Paul Appleby had been at the weekend where we discussed the options and I undertook to go to Government to explain to them the decision.”