MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley said he would forgo a €1.5 million pension top-up if he was in the position of Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher.
Mr Gormley said people who worked in the public sector in particular were enraged when they heard stories of “personal enrichment”, but the Government could not do anything about such situations.
Asked if he agreed with Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív, who has said he would forgo the top-up if he was in Mr Boucher’s situation, Mr Gormley said: “If I were in that position yeah, but I mean that’s a personal view, yeah. I mean, I think responsibility dictates that we as a society go forward together, the public sector and the private sector.
“When people in the public sector particularly see that sort of personal enrichment it can only have one effect and that is to really enrage people. That makes our task as Government so much more difficult.”
Mr Gormley, speaking in Dublin, said while the “wrong signal” was being sent to people, there was little the Government could do about the situation.
“It’s a very difficult issue. It has caused, I think it’s fair to say, outrage amongst a lot of people . . . I certainly share that disappointment. Coming as it does now in the middle of very important negotiations with the unions and indeed when it’s out to ballot in relation to those pay talks.
“That juxtaposition sends the wrong signal to people. I feel personally strongly about it, but again I felt strongly about the wage increases in ESB for example and others where the Government isn’t in a position to do anything about it, that’s unfortunately the case.”
Taoiseach Brian Cowen, speaking earlier in Tullamore, Co Offaly, said the issue was not a matter in which Government could become involved.
“This relates to a prepaid pension plan that has to be funded at the request, presumably of the trustees, to ensure that there is sufficient [reserves] in that fund to make for the pension provision of people in that chief executive level when that retirement issue arises, so it is not a matter of direct input for Government,” Mr Cowen said.
“I’m not in a position here to justify it or otherwise, I’m just saying that’s the position,” he added.
Fine Gael has insisted Brian Lenihan can intervene in the situation, although Mr Lenihan has said this is not the case.
A Labour spokesman said the party was likely to raise the issue with the Taoiseach when the Dáil resumes today.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil deputy Mary O’Rourke, said: “I understand Government can’t intervene but if I was in his [Mr Boucher’s] shoes, he should forgo it . . . anything else is just Jesuitical.”
