Bankers’ salaries - Take off the kid gloves

The haughtiness, the hubris, the sense of entitlement shown by executives at yesterday’s Bank of Ireland AGM was offensive.

At a moment when so many people are involved in the most basic struggle to survive, any package that pays an individual — CEO Richie Boucher in this instance — €16,000 a week is immoral and unacceptable. It is more than frustrating that Finance Minister Michael Noonan did not use the State’s holding in the bank to oppose Mr Boucher’s — and chairman Archie Kane’s €490,000 a year — overly indulgent packages.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that he expects a “substantial contribution’’ from the pay and pensions of senior officials as part of cost-saving measures. However, there is not one instance of any government asserting its authority with any bank in the last five years that might convince the bank’s carpetbaggers they had better take the hint and cut their wages. Expect the status quo to prevail unless the Government takes off the kid gloves.