Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 136: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of times the funding cap for banking officials remuneration has been breached since it was introduced; for whom it was breached; the amount by which it was breached; if this was sanctioned by him or any other member of the Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26970/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 137 together.

The salary cap that the Deputy refers to was introduced following the report of the Covered Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee of February 2009. The then Government decided to implement a base salary cap of €500,000 to be applied to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) position at some of the Covered Institutions. This cap has been waived on one occasion only in the case of the appointment of the CEO at Bank of Ireland and was sanctioned by the previous Government. Details were published in the bank's annual report for 2010.

I have indicated previously in replies to questions on this subject that my Department does not routinely collect data of this nature. However, the review of remuneration policies and practices at the covered institutions is, as the Deputy is aware, on-going. The review is an iterative one with data being received and analysed with a view to producing comparable data across the institutions. I fully recognise that there is a real public interest in the levels of remuneration at the covered institutions and I will endeavour to have this completed in the shortest timeframe possible with a view to putting the information into the public domain.