Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have rarely heard a weaker case made in this House for bankers’ pay. I am not surprised and do not blame the Minister of State because he is carrying the can for a decision that was made elsewhere. I am not surprised to hear him state aggregate levels have gone down slightly. The fact is that he did not address the issue. How can he support an increase of 33% in the pay of the AIB chair? The profits he quotes are questionable. He knows that because it has a lot to do with what one allows for bad debts and how one provides for them. One can control the banks' profits. They made huge reductions, which are questionable this time, but the chairman got a 33% increase. That is not excusable at this time.

Consider the Minister of State's statement that 99% of investors voted in favour of the decision. He is correct in the case of the Bank of Ireland. In the case of AIB, 100% voted in favour of the decision, which was even worse. It is disingenuous for the Minister of State to say here that the shareholders voted in favour of the decision. He, and certainly whoever wrote his script, well know that the big shareholders are the people who voted. A vote by the small shareholders would certainly result in a large majority voting against the pay. The chairman of Bank of Ireland gets a lot more than the chairman of AIB. He gets €490,000 in a remuneration package. He is a man who, with the chairman of AIB, is simply a refuge from British banking. The United Kingdom is where they were found. Neither of them was wanted in the United Kingdom. They land over here and get huge sums of money, €500,000 per year in one case. That is inexcusable. The Minister voted in favour of Mr. Richie Boucher, the chief executive, getting a package of €843,000. Let us justify that.

See this speech in context