Irish Cancer Society chief executive takes €10,000 pay cut

Irish Cancer Society chief executive John McCormack is taking a €10,000 a year pay cut to help fund the charity's financial support for the families of children with cancer.

Speaking at the launch of the society’s annual Daffodil Day appeal, Mr McCormack said his salary was being cut from €145,000 to €135,000 from the start of this month.

The charity was hit by a strong public backlash this week after it announced it was closing the €1.8 million annual financial support programme for cancer sufferers.

It then partially reversed the cut in response to widespread criticism by saying it will continue to spend €200,000 a year on providing financial support for the families of children with cancer. The decision to end supports for adults with the disease is unaffected by the partial u-turn.

The society says it now needs to find €200,000 in 2016, either through savings or fundraised income, to maintain the fund for the families of children with cancer.

Mr McCormack said he has made the decision to take a pay cut as a personal contribution to the efforts by the society to maintain the fund for children with cancer.

“I greatly regret that it has become necessary to close the Financial Support Programme for adults with cancer, and I sincerely apologise for the upset that this decision has caused, but considering that we are not funded by the state, and that we run a number of really important and free services for people with cancer, unfortunately it was necessary to do so,” he said.

The society has said it already made significant cuts in expenditure, including cutting staff costs by other €750,000. Appealing for public support “now more than ever”, it said it was trying to do the best possible with the money raised from donations.