Bord na Mona paid £141,000 in expenses to chief executive over last three years, according to report

THE chief executive of Bord na Mona, Mr Eddie O'Connor, received £141,000 in expenses payments over the last three years. Over a third of these expenses, £53,000, were paid without receipts having to be produced, according to the report on Mr O'Connor's pay package compiled by accountants Price Waterhouse.

Mr O'Connor's basic salary during the period totalled £187,000. His salary is set according to the Gleeson scale which covers pay for senior civil servants and executives in commercial state companies.

However, Mr O'Connor has said he came to an informal arrangement with the previous chairman, Mr Brendan Halligan, about the other elements of his package. The total package, including pension and life assurance payments, director's fees and bonus, came to between £150,000 and £200,000 in each financial year, which runs from March to March.

The current chairman of Bord na Mona, Mr Pat Dineen, ordered the report on Mr O'Connor's remuneration after he took over last November. The purpose of the report was to tabulate the arrangements Mr O'Connor had entered into with the previous chairman.

Last night, Mr Halligan declined to comment on the matter while Mr O'Connor was not available.

The Cabinet was given a "general briefing" yesterday on recent events in Bord na Mona by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Telecommunications, Mr Lowry.

A Government spokesman said anything that could cause problems in a major semi state company would be a matter of concern to the Government. The appropriate procedures were being followed and these were matters for the board of the company in the first instance.

The Secretary of the Department, Mr John Loughrey, had received a copy of the Price Waterhouse report on the remuneration "package" and the Minister had been briefed on the contents of the report. Mr Loughrey had written to the company seeking further information.

The board of Bord na Mona is due to hold its monthly meeting tomorrow and the controversy over the Price Waterhouse report is expected to be discussed.

On the order of business in the Dail, Mr Noel Treacy of Fianna Fail asked the Taoiseach to make "urgent arrangements" to have the Price Waterhouse report debated in the House, but he was ruled out of order by the chair.

Speaking on RTE last night Mr Treacy, the Fianna Fail energy spokesman, called on the Government to publish the report "so we can all see precisely what the situation is". This was required, in fairness to the company and its executives.

The energy spokesman of the Progressive Democrats Mr Bobby Molloy, said he was glad to see the company's new chairman, Mr Pat Dineen, "rooting away". But when he heard of apartments in Portugal and substantial sums being spent on the purchase of wine he began to wonder "what was going on with the public's money in this company".

Mr Dineen also put a stop to a number of other practices at Bord na Mona after he assumed the chairmanship. They included the use by senior management of a time share villa in Portugal that was paid for by the company. Bord na Mona bought the time share in 1988 for £40,000. It was used by senior executives in rotation, but is now being sold.

The purchase of wine in bulk by the company for corporate entertainment and for board dinners was also discontinued. More than £2,000 was spent in this fashion over the two years to March 1995. Mr O'Connor bought some of the wine from the company, but never availed of the time share, according to Bord na Mona.

The company made payment of £15,000 to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of tax owed on Mr O'Connor's expenses in the 1993/1994 and 1994/1995 tax years.

It was part of a £240,000 settlement between the company and the Revenue Commissioners over a number of outstanding issues relating to expenses paid to employees during the period. The settlement was confidential and did not appear in the list of tax defaulters published each year by the Revenue Commissioners.