Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the Minister about pensions and section 9. I listened very carefully to what he said. My concern relates to the powers he has. I mean no disrespect but I am not so sure that he has that much power. I know it is a public company. The Minister knows how concerned we are about that - that it stays a public company. I am chairperson of the board of a small not-for-profit company. We set the pay. Under company law, the board sets policy in respect of pay structure and the same is true of pensions. If the board of Ervia decides to set pension and pay policy within certain parameters, I am not too sure how much leverage the Minister has here any more than the leverage he would have with Bord na Móna or the ESB. What kind of power does he have to intervene to say that they have gone too far? I believe the chief executive should not be getting the money he is getting. He is paid more than the president of France. We should not be paying people that kind of money. We do not need to do so. A maxim during the boom stated that if one paid people peanuts, one got monkeys but we paid them millions and we still ended up with monkeys.

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