Board of Bord na Mona sees pay report

THE board of Bord na Mona will this morning consider the report into the pay package of its chief executive, Dr Eddie O'Connor, prepared by accountants Price Waterhouse.

The report, which reveals that Dr O'Connor received £141,000 expenses over the past three years will be put before the board the first time.

Sources close to the board said that they expect the report to dominate proceedings at what is otherwise a routine monthly meeting.

Mr Pat Dineen, the chairman of the company, commissioned the report shortly after he took over last November.

The report shows that, over and above his salary of between £58,000 and £66,000 a year, Dr O'Connor received £141,000 in expenses since the start of the 1993/1994 tax year.

Over £53,000 of these were in the form of untouched expenses paid without receipts having to be produced, according to the report.

Dr O'Connor has said that all the elements of his package were agreed on an informal basis with the previous chairman, Dr Brendan Halligan.

Dr O'Connor's basic salary is fixed under the Gleeson scale, which governs senior civil servants and the chief executives of State companies.

It is capped at around £65,000 but Dr O'Connor received between £150,000 and £200,000 a year in the three years reviewed by Price Waterhouse.

The directors are also expected to raise questions surrounding the £240,000 settlement made by Bord na Mona with the Revenue Commissioners last year which related mainly to tax owed on expenses payments to employees.