The former head of Aer Rianta International, the overseas duty-free arm of State-owned Dublin Airport Authority, received a severance payment of €867,000 when he left the company last year.
Eamon Foley left ARI last November after serving 19 years with the company, 12 of them as director general.
His generous exit package comprised a lump sum of €437,000 and a payment of €68,000 annually for 6.3 years to bridge the gap to retirement.
The DAA confirmed yesterday that Mr Foley now worked as a paid external consultant with ARI and served on the boards of certain subsidiaries.
Details of Mr Foley’s package are included in Aer Rianta International’s latest accounts and are likely to stoke the debate about generous pensions paid to politicians, bankers and senior public servants.
In response to questions about the severance package, a spokesman for the DAA said: “Mr Foley’s application to participate in the VSS [voluntary severance scheme] was accepted, as his departure prior to his normal retirement date allowed a consolidation of management positions within ARI, resulting in annual payroll savings of €368,000.”
He said all applications for voluntary severance were “evaluated on a commercial basis”.
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