Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assume that Bank of Ireland will appear before the committee in the coming days. The Deputy can raise his points directly with the representatives of the banks. I do not know whether the CEO will be appearing but if he is, I am sure he will be anxious to reply to the points raised.

Bank salaries were capped at €500,000 by this Government. The arrangements for the CEO of Bank of Ireland were entered into prior to my becoming Minister and they were agreed by my predecessor. We have 14% of Bank of Ireland. It is, by and large, a privately owned bank, and shareholders of privately owned banks tend to award key staff. That is our position on that. The targets set in the Mercer report for savings in the cost base across the banks have been exceeded and it has been a very successful exercise. They used a portfolio of means to meet the targets and these do not all involve salary cuts, even though there have been significant salary cuts. The Mercer targets have been realised, when all the initiatives are taken into account, and the cost base of the main banks has been driven down substantially.

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