LARGE bonuses and other perks for senior business executives send "a bad signal" to ordinary employees who are being asked to exercise wage restraint. The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, has told the annual conference of the Institute of Personnel and Development that such awards could "destabilise" social partnership in the Republic.

Social partnership was one of the key foundations to the economic miracle of the past decade, he said, but he added that some recent high profile awards to executives were "inimical to the fostering of competitive partnership arrangements at the level of the enterprise".

In a clear reference to bonus packages given to senior executives in companies like Ryanair, Irish Permanent and Irish Life, Mr Bruton said he was concerned at the "high salary increases, bonuses or other perks paid to senior executives and management of companies that alter their structure or float on stock markets".

"This trend has been evident for some time in the UK and the US, but there are worrying signs that it is being imported here to the detriment of good employee relationships."

In national agreements over the past 10 years, "workers have shown great restraint in the level of headline pay increases they have accepted. The economy overall has clearly benefitted from this and the consensus approach adopted to managing the economy", he said.

Pay restraint had allowed companies to plough back money into their operations, make them more profitable and increase employment. It was "legitimate to raise questions about huge payouts to senior managers", he said.

"We must be sensitive to the impact that such well publicised increases have on workers who have accepted pay increases of 2 or 3 per cent at a time when our economic growth is the highest in Europe. I would ask companies to be more conscious of this when deciding on the remuneration packages of their senior executives."