Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister holds the shares of this State in the Bank of Ireland. They are in trust to him as the Minister for Finance who is a 15% shareholder. However, the Minister has not once uttered a word about the fact that Mr. Richie Boucher was paid €910,000 last year, the same as he was paid the year before. His base salary is above the cap, his car expenses are €34,000 and his pension comprises an annual contribution above €186,000. Not once, however, has the Minister ever raised the issue as a shareholder with a 15% share in that bank, which is probably bigger than any other shareholding. The Minister has bottled this issue.

Why did he stand as a member of the Opposition and demand that a cap of €250,000 be imposed? Can he justify that? One of the public interest directors who sits on the remuneration board, is a former Minister, Mr. Joe Walsh. That wee, cosy relationship was created many years ago whereby former Ministers and former Secretaries General of Departments were put in as public interest directors. Mr. Walsh sits on the remuneration committee and gets €90,000 for his work. One public interest director told me that equates to about 30 days' work. Given the state this country is in, can the Minister justify paying a public interest director €3,000 per day, while they allow the chief executive of the Bank of Ireland to walk away with €840,000?

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