THE GOVERNMENT has asked high-ranking staff below chief executive level in commercial State companies who are earning more than €250,000 to take a voluntary pay cut.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform confirmed at the weekend that the Government had sought such personnel to agree a voluntary salary waiver of 15 per cent – or less if the amount would bring pay down below €250,000.
In June the Government announced a new maximum salary of €250,000 for the chief executives of commercial State companies appointed in the future – with the sole exception of the ESB.
At the same time the Government sought a 15 per cent voluntary waiver from existing chief executives of commercial State companies who were receiving in excess of the proposed ceiling.
No announcement was made that a similar requirement was being sought from other executives earning more than €250,000.
While commercial State companies publish the salaries of their chief executives, the remuneration of other senior personnel are not made known.
Therefore it is unclear how many senior executives in commercial State companies come within the scope of the Government’s request for a voluntary pay cut.
The ESB, where chief executive Pádraig McManus is the highest paid executive in the commercial State sector, said it could not comment on the issue at the weekend.
Mr McManus, who currently earns about €400,000, has already taken a 15 per cent reduction in salary.
Under new Government rules his successor will receive a maximum salary of just over €318,000.
Bord Gáis said none of its senior staff was paid more than €250,000.
The company’s chief executive John Mullins has taken a pay cut to bring his remuneration rate down to the €250,000 cap set by the Government.
It is unclear at this stage as to whether the Government intends to release publicly any details on how many, if any, executives in the commercial State sector have agreed to the voluntary 15 per cent waiver which it sought in the summer.
Such details are set to be given to the Cabinet by the Department of Public Expenditure in the weeks ahead.
In a statement this weekend, the Department of Public Expenditure said that while it had “for the information of the Minister and Government, asked departments to forward details of the level of response to the Government’s request by end of October, it is to be noted that the department will not be in a position to make public any information which serves to identify the nature of the response at an individual level given that the release of such information relates to a voluntary action”.
The Government, however, did in the past release figures on the number of judges who had taken voluntary pay cuts.
Under the Government’s measures introduced in the summer, only five commercial State companies – RTÉ, the Dublin Airport Authority, An Post, CIÉ and the ESB – will be permitted to pay chief executives more than €200,000.