Taoiseach 'appalled' by €3m package for ex-AIB boss

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny has said he was “appalled” by the “latest banker scandal” following the revelation that former AIB managing director Colm Doherty received a pay package totalling more than €3 million when he resigned in November last year.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Mr Kenny said he did not know who was party to the negotiations on Mr Doherty’s remuneration, but he said “that’s gone . . . the payment has been made”.

Earlier Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said the issue of bankers pay has to be re-examined. The payment to Mr Doherty was part of “a very strong legacy from the previous government which we are trying to clear up”.

While the Government would be making decisions to make sure it doesn’t happen again, he said there was nothing it could do about Mr Doherty’s payment. “We’ll be taking decisions going forward that matters like this don’t happen again,” he said.

Mr Noonan said he only became aware of the payment to Mr Doherty when AIB published its 2010 annual figures last week.

Larry Broderick, general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials Association, said he was “appalled” that a chief executive of an organisation which made a €12 billion loss could walk away with a €3 million pay package, which was reported in The Irish Times yesterday.

At a time when more than 2,000 bank workers were to be made redundant there seemed to be “one rule for those at the very top who have destroyed the organisation and another rule for the ordinary staff on the ground”.

Mr Broderick did not believe the culture at the top had changed, and described the incident as “totally unfair”. He called on the Government to clarify its position on the matter.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Brian Lenihan said the AIB executive payment would be greeted by “anger and disbelief”.

“The news this morning that a former AIB bank executive received €3 million remuneration in 2010 will be greeted by anger, frustration and disbelief by the Irish public. I share these feelings.

“The public interest directors of AIB lobbied for the appointment of this individual but as minister for finance . . . I ensured that a pay reduction applied to this individual upon his appointment as managing director of AIB.

“The other entitlements, including pension entitlements, were pre-existing contractual obligations and had the same legal standing for the last government as they do for Mr Michael Noonan and his colleagues.”