THE CHIEF executive of the Health Service Executive, Prof Brendan Drumm, has not yet drawn down his recently-awarded €70,000 bonus, he confirmed at the weekend.
He indicated, though, that when it is drawn down, the bonus, which is in respect of 2007, will go to a good cause.
He told the Marian Finucane Showon RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday that when he got a previous bonus for 2006 he gave it away. That bonus amounted to €80,000.
“I am happy that that bonus was used for a proper and good purpose. I haven’t got a bonus for 2007. I’m happy that if that’s now drawn down . . . I really do want to see it used for the right purpose.”
Asked if it was going to charity, he said: “It will . . . even the term charity sometimes I find maybe isn’t the right term.”
He stressed he did not negotiate “one penny of the actual remuneration” of his current contract. It was set for another person who was due to take up the job and did not do so. The package was that 75 per cent of his money was to be paid as salary, with 25 per cent based on performance.
He started on a salary of €320,000, with the potential for a 25 per cent bonus on top of that.
“Of course I’m paid very well . . . Should I be taxed at 75 per cent if that’s what’s needed to help those who aren’t able to survive at the moment? I 100 per cent agree with that.”