Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said he was “very dissatisfied” that Dublin Airport Authority had made provision for a performance-related payment of over €100,000 for its chief executive Declan Collier for last year.
Mr Collier's total remuneration package amounted to €612,500 in 2010, up from €568,100 in 2009. He was awarded performance-related bonuses of more than €106,000, but these will not be paid until the end of his contract.
Mr Collier took a 12 per cent cut in his basic salary to €308,489.
A spokesman for Mr Varadkar said he was aware that the payment of the bonus had been deferred, but that it was “the Government’s clear policy that no performance-related payments should be made in respect of 2010”.
"All of the Government’s agencies would be expected to comply with this. In recent days, the Minister has also written to the company secretary in the absence of a chairman in these terms," he said.
The Department of Transport noted that the Minister had met collectively with the chairpersons and chief executives of all the State agencies after he took office. They had been informed that such payments should not be made pending a Government review of the matter.
Dublin Airport Authority today announced that it returned to profitability last year despite continued difficult trading conditions and the impact of volcanic ash and extreme weather on passenger numbers.
The group reported profits of €33.1 million for 2010 compared with losses of €13.3 million the previous year following exceptional charges amounting to €51 million.
Group turnover rose by 2 per cent to €558 million in 2010 due to higher airport charges and increased sales revenues at its overseas operations.
The group said Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) increased by 17 per cent to €147 million while net debt stood at €765 million by the end of 2010.
“The business environment remained very challenging for DAA during 2010, due to the impact of the economic downturn in Ireland, constrained business and consumer spending in many of our passenger markets, and contraction of airline services," said Mr Collier.
“We are confident, however, that a combination of renewed economic growth and continued robust management of our costs will enable us to re-build our profitability and strengthen our balance sheet in the years ahead,” he added.
The DAA said its passenger numbers fell by 13 per cent to 22.6 million last year. Passenger numbers at Dublin airport were 10 per cent lower at 18.4 million, while the Cork figures were 12 per cent lower at just over 2.4 million.
Shannon Airport experienced a 37 per cent reduction in passenger numbers to 1.8 million. The decline was attributed to the withdrawal of a number of Ryanair services.
Profits at DAA’s subsidiary, Aer Rianta International, made a "significant contribution" to the group’s financial performance, the authority said.
Aer Rianta, which manages DAA’s overseas airport investments and airport retailing operations, saw profits increase by 40 per cent to €18.8 million compared to profits in 2009 of €13.4 million before exceptional charges.
The group also said improved profits were due to a significant reduction in costs following the implementation of its restructuring programme which is expected to deliver annualised savings of almost €40 million.
Ryanair called on the authority to explain the fact that the chief executive's remuneration had increased, despite the fact that traffic and profits had fallen.
"It appears the worse that Mr Collier’s performance is, the bigger his pay package gets," said Ryanair's head of of communications Stephen McNamara.