Dáil debates

Thursday, 18 October 2012

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Harbour Authorities

4:25 pm

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No 1939 of 18 September 2012, if he will report on his following up of these issues with the chairman of Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45203/12]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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This question relates to the remuneration of the chief executive officer of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. The annual report and accounts for the company for 2011 disclose that the chief executive officer received remuneration of €188,477 in 2011, an increase of €19,877 over 2010 remuneration. The matter was the subject of a national newspaper article in August 2012.

My Department sought clarification from the chairperson of the board. However, the term of office of the chairperson of the board, together with a number of other members of the board, expired at the end of September 2012 before the Department could conclude the matter.

I am in the process of appointing a new chairperson and board members in the coming weeks. Before the appointment of the chairperson is made, the chairperson designate will be required to attend before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. Once appointed, my Department will follow up on the relevant issues with the new chairperson and I will revert directly to the Deputy at that stage.

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Joan Collins has sought permission that Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett take the question in her place.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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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.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The salary is very high for a relatively small company. There are many people running much larger enterprises than this who do not get paid a salary of this scale. For the information of the Deputy, the basic salary is €136,000, plus €12,600 in board fees and a car allowance of €20,000, all of which are contracted and, as a consequence, the chief executive officer is legally entitled to them. The additional payment of €19,877 relates to a payment in lieu of untaken holidays or untaken leave. My Department wrote to the chairperson, whose term has ended, stating that we did not accept this payment of €19,877 and that it should not have been made. When a new chairman is appointed the matter will be taken up with the new chairperson to resolve and the new board when appointed. The chairman designate will appear before the joint committee to discuss these matters. Unfortunately, these matters are a distraction from a much more important issue which is the future of the harbour company. I would like to see the new chairman and board deal with these issues quickly in order that we can concentrate on the much more important matter of the future direction and future success of the harbour company.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I agree that the future of the harbour company is the major concern for the people of Dún Laoghaire and certainly for the workforce. I accept this is a legacy issue which the Minister has inherited. Any reasonable person would say this is an unacceptably high level of remuneration for top executives who appear to give themselves unspecified payments of very large amounts and increasing their salary when revenues are falling and workers are under the hammer. We need to protect the front-line workers, the harbour police and maintenance workers who make the harbour function and get rid of these obscene salaries and expenses and waste of money at the top, which seems to serve no particular function and cannot be justified. Is that the general direction in which the Minister is heading?

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are over time.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will the harbour company be retained or brought back under council control, Dublin Port control or directly under the Department?

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have an open mind on the future place of the harbour company, whether it should remain as a company under my Department, a company under the local authority or be transferred to Dublin Port. I would be interested to hear the views of all the Deputies from Dún Laoghaire on that matter. I accept the rate of remuneration is high. It is not far off the rate of remuneration of the chief executive officer of Dublin Port which is a much larger enterprise. That is an issue that will have to be addressed by the new board. On the issue of the workforce, the key issue is whether it is the right size in terms of costs and the level of business of the company.