CEO pay at commercial State bodies including RTÉ likely to rise after review

Top level executives in commercial State bodies such as RTÉ seem likely to see their pay boosted following a Government decision to review their remuneration.

A new Senior Posts Remuneration Committee is to be established by the Government which will look at the pay of commercial State company chiefs as a priority. Legislation to establish the new body will also allow the Minister for Public Expenditure to request it to look at remuneration levels for others in high-level posts across the State sector, in organisations which could include the ESB, VHI Healthcare and State-owned transport firms.

However the new committee will not be allowed to look at the pay of Ministers or political office holders, the Government decided.

Last year an independent panel recommended to Government that a new pay body should look at remuneration provided to senior civil servants, judges, high-level gardaí and military personnel as well as hospital consultants.

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The announcement of the review of top level pay in the commercial State sector, including in RTÉ, comes at a time of much public controversy over executive and presenter remuneration at the broadcaster.

Government sources said while the new review would look at the pay of RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst – who currently receives a basic salary of €250,000 as well as a pension contribution of 25 per cent of pay and a car allowance – other top personnel at the broadcaster would not be included.

The Cabinet also agreed on Tuesday that new rules would also be put in place for the length of time secretaries general, the top grades in the Civil Service, can serve in office. On foot of the Government decision secretaries general will be permitted to stay in post for a maximum of nine years – an initial seven-year term potentially followed by a two-year extension. The new legislation will maintain that on completion of their term the top civil servants could revert to the lower grade of assistant secretary (with the appropriate pay for the position) or receive a one-time, end of term payment equivalent to one year’s salary.

The Department of Public Expenditure said on Tuesday that this was in keeping with a policy which had been in place for over a decade and was in line with restrictions on such personnel taking up other employment after leaving the State sector put in place by the Standards in Public Office Commission.

The Government under the new legislation will also be permitted to appoint a secretary general at the end of their term to an equivalent position for five years outside their Civil Service department.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe said he would be writing to the new Senior Posts Remuneration Committee shortly to direct it to begin an assessment of the pay of the chief executives in commercial State bodies. These are expected to include organisations such as the ESB, VHI healthcare and the State-owned transport companies.

The independent panel last year urged that pay for the top executives in commercial State companies should be reviewed “as a matter of priority”.

“A number of particular issues were observed in relation to the pay determination process of CEOs of commercial State bodies, largely arising from the lack of an agreed mechanism to review rates and their exclusion from national pay agreements,” it said.

The new Senior Posts Remuneration Committee is to be chaired by chartered accountant Maeve Carton, who separately serves as a governor of The Irish Times Trust.

Mr Donohoe said that in addition to addressing the recommendations of the independent group which reported last year in relation to the pay of senior posts, the Government was also “enhancing clarity, consistency and transparency for all stakeholders while retaining an ability to preserve experience within the system”.

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