Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers has confirmed that the pay of CEOs in Commercial State Bodies can now be reviewed and increased, reports The Mirror.
The Senior Posts Remuneration Committee (SPRC) was set up in March 2024 by Paschal Donohoe to “provide objective and independent advice to the minister regarding the remuneration of senior roles in the public service”.
In 2011, the government imposed a general pay cap of €250,000 for new CEO appointments in Commercial State Companies. Since then, some CEO salaries have been adjusted on a case-by-case basis, reports The Mirror.
The report noted that CEO pay has not been assessed since 2011 and that salary packages in Commercial State Bodies have “fallen out of alignment with the market in the absence of a systematic process for pay adjustments.”
The report noted that CEO pay has not been assessed since 2011 and that salary packages in Commercial State Bodies have “fallen out of alignment with the market in the absence of a systematic process for pay adjustments,” reports The Mirror.
It proposed a banded structure, which would categorise commercial state bodies into one of eight different bands. Each level would come with a salary range based on market and private sector wages.
They advised that salaries should fall within 80 to 120 per cent of the market median for each band.
But the Government ruled that CEO salaries could only go up to 100 per cent of the market median, reports The Mirror.
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All pay increases must receive sign-off from both the relevant line minister and the Public Expenditure Minister.
When asked by the Irish Mirror how higher salaries for CEOs could be justified when there won’t be a cost-of-living package in the upcoming budget and possible delays to tax reform, Minister Chambers clarified that the change wouldn’t automatically lead to salary hikes for all CEOs.
He said: “This is a change to the framework and process under which CEO pay is decided. There may be many commercial state bodies where CEO pay will not change. There may be a recommendation made by a board of a semi-state company through their remuneration committee to the line minister that there should be a pay increase. What we’re changing is the process on which pay is determined,” reports The Mirror.
He added: “In some instances, it may not result in an increase for a particular CEO. There may be a case [for] another CEO [where] there will be a recommendation to make an increase. That’s why a minister will have to sign off on that,” reports The Mirror.
Minister Chambers was also questioned about the CEO role in the newly formed Housing Activation Office, which was brought to Cabinet on Tuesday.
Although Housing Minister James Browne did not name the CEO at Cabinet, it is anticipated that outgoing NAMA Chief Brendan McDonagh will take the position, continuing on his current €430,000 annual salary, reports The Mirror.
However, in the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin stated that whoever takes the role will “be seconded from within the public service, which basically means that there will be no additional cost in salary or whatever”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald challenged the justification for the high salary and questioned the need for the housing tsar when there is already a minister in place.
She asked Mr Martin why he was “recruiting a job share for your housing minister”, reports The Mirror.
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