Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I welcome the fact the representatives of the harbour company will appear before a an Oireachtas committee. The anger felt by the workforce in the harbour company is extreme. Five members of staff were made redundant at the beginning of 2011, the chief executive officer is seeking pay cuts of between 30% and 40% from the workforce and the entire harbour police are subjected to disciplinary proceedings, essentially in disputes which seem to arise from the fact that the management is putting huge pressure on the workforce and appear bent on driving them out. All of this is happening at a time when, as the Minister has acknowledged, the chief executive officer has bumped his salary to €188,000 per year. He also receives director's fees of €12,000 per year and unspecified payments of €40,000 per year. Last year there were unspecified payments to the chief executive officer of €20,000 per year. This is extraordinary given a relatively small workforce. Also the harbour company has made significant losses in revenue this year as against last year. It appears that those at the top are creaming it while the workforce is under extreme pressure. Has any justification been given by the management of the harbour company in regard to where the unspecified payments of €40,000 came from, what they are and why they think they are justified a large increase on top of already high salaries? Questions remain concerning expenses which were wrongly claimed by a former board director which we were told would be returned and it is still not clear if they have been returned, against a background where the workers are being hammered.

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