THE CHIEF executive of the Dublin Airport Authority, Declan Collier, and the board of the company have backed down in the confrontation with Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar over his €106,000 bonus.
Mr Varadkar had threatened not to reappoint the board of the State company when its term expires later this year for defying guidelines on pay for senior public servants.
The company had awarded a deferred bonus of €106,000 to Mr Collier for 2010 despite a Government ban on bonuses for semi-State bosses.
The company said last night that Mr Collier had informed the Minister that “in light of prevailing national economic circumstances he will forgo performance-related pay in respect of 2010 approved by the company”. The statement added that the board had approved the payment to Mr Collier “based on the achievement, as per his contract, of rigorous performance-related targets that year”.
Mr Varadkar welcomed Mr Collier’s decision and “his acceptance that the terms and conditions of the CEO’s position will be substantially reduced next year, in line with Minister Howlin’s reforms.”
Mr Varadkar said he was pleased Mr Collier and the company board were now complying with the policy of his Department and the Government.
“Like all sections of society and the economy, the semi-State sector will have to undergo a significant transformation in order to survive and prosper. That requires leadership and personal sacrifice from the top. I welcome Mr Collier’s decision in this context. It follows similar decisions taken by other semi-State chiefs, and I hope that we will see further examples of such leadership from others across the semi-State sector in the weeks ahead.”
Before the company’s announcement Minister for Finance Michael Noonan had called on the board to consider its future. “The Irish taxpayer is the 100 per cent shareholder in the Dublin Airport Authority. Now if directors cannot agree with the view of the shareholder and the shareholder is represented by the Minister I’d ask the question what are they doing staying on?” said Mr Noonan.
Mr Varadkar’s demand that the company board should not pay the bonus had already resulted in the resignation of chairman David Dilger.
The directors who would not have been reappointed are RBS Aviation Capital chief executive Peter Barrett; former Fianna Fáil minister and MEP Gerry Collins; author and chairman of Glencullen Holdings Ltd Bill Cullen; deputy chairman of TUI Travel Sir Michael Hodgkinson; chairman of Shannon Airport Authority Brian O’Connell; Marie O’Connor, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Cork Airport Authority chairman Gerry Walsh.