THE CHIEF executive of a national disability organisation which is funded with taxpayers’ money is fighting an attempt by the Government to cut his €150,000 salary by half.
An unpublished audit of People with Disabilities in Ireland (PwDI) by the Department of Justice is understood to raise concern over the proportion of public money spent by the organisation on salaries and administration.
The draft report says in excess of 30 per cent of the estimated €1.4 million the PwDI receives in Government funding is allocated to salaries for its six employees, according to senior sources.
Officials at the Department of Justice, which funds the group, met with members of the PwDI board last month and told them that salary levels were unsustainable and should be reduced.
However, PwDI chief executive Michael Ringrose is refusing to accept a proposed 50 per cent cut in salary and is contesting the plan through his lawyers.
“There is an issue in contention and it’s subject to legal correspondence between my advisers, the board of PwDI and the department,” he said at the weekend.
Mr Ringrose is a retired Garda chief superintendent in his late 60s. Pensions for retired gardaí at this rank are typically in excess of €60,000 a year. He said his salary – which is equivalent to that of an assistant secretary in the Civil Service – was set by PwDI’s board three years ago. His three-year contract was renewed at the beginning of November. “People I relate to in Government departments are on a similar level or above ... why do people in the disability sector feel they have to accept [a salary] much further down the level on a Civil Service grade?” Mr Ringrose said. The issue of the Garda pension he receives was “totally irrelevant” to the debate.
The PwDI held a full board meeting to discuss the issue in Dublin on Saturday, which was attended by company law and insolvency specialists. It is understood the board was told that if the organisation is to continue to trade, they will be doing so from a precarious financial position.
Informed sources say the company is trading with losses of more than €100,000 and that funding is not forthcoming from the department at present.
A spokesman for Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern declined to comment on whether the organisation will continue to be funded.
However, senior sources say that if the issue of salaries is not addressed, the organisation will be “sidestepped”.
“If needs be, the funding to organisations and services on the ground will be administered by the department,” a senior source said, on condition of anonymity.
“The funding that goes on salaries and administration is totally out of kilter. That’s what the audit shows. So, it would be cheaper for the department to administer the funding itself.”
Mr Ringrose, meanwhile, defended his salary, which he said reflected the work and expertise involved in developing the group over the past eight years.
“No one has questioned my integrity . . . or what I bring to the game. I’ve committed and dedicated myself to building up this organisation and that is respected by the majority of the board,” he said. He had also offered to reduce his salary by 10 per cent.
A previous independent review of the organisation prepared for the department five years ago also raised concerns over the way PwDI operated. It said it was not possible to state with any degree of confidence that PwDI had provided value for money and pointed to structural problems such as a large and unwieldy board.