Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Finance if the Covered Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee is still in place; the frequency with which it reports; its latest recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54813/12]

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

The Covered Institutions Remuneration Oversight Committee (CIROC) was established, as part of the previous Administration’s response to the banking crisis, to oversee all remuneration plans of senior executives of the covered institutions. It fulfilled its mandate in February 2009 (and is no longer in place) when reporting to the then Government who accepted its recommendations but decided to impose a lower base salary cap of €500,000 than the CIROC recommended maximum figure of €690,000. Present Government policy on remuneration – which goes beyond previous policy - dictates that no employee at any of the four covered institutions may receive annual remuneration (excluding pension contributions) of more than €500,000. The Government’s commitment to honouring this policy is evidenced by the appointment of new Chief Executive Officers at AIB & PTSB respectively being within this threshold. The payment of performance bonuses to employees at the covered institutions is prohibited except in certain circumstances such as on foot of a court order.

My Department is presently engaged in a Review of Remuneration Practices and Frameworks at the covered institutions. I am expecting the consultant’s report to be delivered by year end whereupon consultations with the various stakeholders will commence. As I have said previously, I fully recognise that there is a real public interest in the levels of remuneration at the covered institutions and have committed to placing the details underpinning the review into the public domain.