Former president of the Irish Farmers’ Association Eddie Downey has said he acted within hours when he became aware of the full pay package of the organisation’s general secretary, Pat Smith.
Mr Smith resigned as general secretary last month when publication of his salary package, totalling nearly €1 million over two years, caused widespread outrage among farmers. Mr Downey resigned as president last week after it emerged he had agreed a €2 million severance package for Mr Smith.
In his first interview since his resignation, Mr Downey said he had approval and did not act on his own when reaching a severance agreement with Mr Smith. He said he was speaking “to put the record straight,” and he stood over all he had done, including resigning. He said he did not know the full remuneration package Mr Smith was receiving until Thursday, November 19th, following his request for the information the day before.
On November 19th, he was shown the documents and met the IFA legal adviser, treasurer and financial controller and spoke by phone to the deputy president. It was made “absolutely clear to me you cannot remove somebody from a salaried job just because of the size of that salary. The view of the meeting was I was to speak to the general secretary.”
Difficult conversation
He said he went to Mr Smith’s office and “man to man, we had a very difficult conversation. I was angry but I had to take heed of all the advice I had just been given. I advised Pat Smith of his position and he decided to exit the IFA”.
He also said he had approval for his actions in relation to the severance package for Mr Smith. He said he decided to resign as president during the crisis meeting of the executive council that lasted for 17 hours last week. He was not present at it as he had stood aside from the presidency in relation to pay and pensions. “I got word from the meeting that some of the facts surrounding my involvement surrounding the general secretary’s departure were being misrepresented. The message I got was I was thrown under the bus at the meeting.
Media coverage
“There was so much media coverage out there, so much pain in the farming community and in the IFA itself and so much misinformation being thrown out there, that the only option was to stand aside.”
Mr Downey said he he fully supported the review of pay and pensions in the IFA being carried out by Con Lucey who resigned as chairperson of its audit committee last year.
When he resigned Mr Lucey said there was a compelling case for the establishment of a remuneration committee in the IFA which would not include the president or the general secretary for obvious reasons. Mr Downey said he had supported that view. He said on foot of concerns expressed by Mr Lucey, he and the treasurer of the IFA, Jer Bergin, had last December “refused to review the salary of the general secretary on the basis that we wanted it done within a proper structure as directed by Con Lucey’s letter.”
Mr Downey said he was also happy for his own salary to be reviewed by the committee. “I walked in the door and was told salary was €147,000. I did not set this salary, I had no hand, act or part in setting this salary but I have put in place a remuneration committee to review this salary. That is proper governance and that is what is required within this organisation.