Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the Government had inherited a “bonus culture” for public sector and semi State employees that had been in place for a "very long time".
He was speaking in Dublin today after the National Treasury Management Agency revealed details last night of the 2010 bonuses paid to its staff. The chief executive John Corrigan has waived a bonus payment of nearly €250,000 for last year.
However, the NTMA and Nama did award bonuses of almost €2 million in 2010, or an average of €7,681 for each of the 350 employees. The nine most senior executives in the NTMA waived €905,000 in bonuses.
Mr Gilmore said the Government would not tolerate a bonus culture and had taken steps to “end the culture of overpayment and the culture of bonuses that have applied in areas of our public sector”.
The late minister for finance Brian Lenihan approved the NTMA’s bonuses but senior executives decided to forego them in February this year.
Staff at the treasury agency and Nama have individual contracts, all with performance-related elements.
The pay cap for senior officials and executives in the public sector, announced by Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin last week, will not apply to the agency or Nama because of the individual nature of the contracts.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said that some 14 executives employed by the agency and Nama had annual salaries of more than €250,000.
The average salary for the 350 employees at the NTMA and Nama is almost €100,000.