Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher tonight said he will waive his option to retire on pension at age 55 amid controversy over €1.5 million pension top-up.
In effect, this means Mr Boucher has removed the need to top up his pension by €1.5 million.
In a statement issued tonight, Mr Boucher said although he had been out of the country this week, "I have kept abreast of and I am sensitive to the current comment and debate about my pension arrangements.
"My absolute priority and that of all my colleagues in Bank of Ireland is to complete the task we have set ourselves to restore the strength of the business and support economic recovery. In this regard I am determined that none of us in Bank of Ireland should be distracted from this critically important task. Therefore, I have decided to waive my option to retire on pension at age 55."
Welcoming Mr Boucher's move, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said: “This issue should never have arisen in the first place. And it’s no thanks to Brian Cowen that the decision has been changed.
“Since I raised this issue in the Dáil yesterday morning the Government has stood idly by while this controversy raged. It was only the depth of public anger and political pressure that resulted in this U-turn.
“Senior members of the banking sector must now realise the pain, hardship and suffering that their actions have caused to the wider community. I hope on foot of this decision that Michael Fingleton will respond in a similar fashion and return his €1 million bonus payment,” Mr Kenny added.
Earlier today, Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey condemned the pension top-up paid to Mr Boucher.
Details of this pension top-up and salary were outlined in the company’s annual report. The bank said the top-up was to meet “contractual arrangements”. Based on his current salary of €623,000, Mr Boucher will receive a pension of €367,570 a year.
In an interview today, Mr Mulvey said the bank’s board should be called before the Oireachtas Finance Committee to explain its actions. “This is a matter for the public interest,” he said. “Directors were appointed by the Government to represent our interests, I think they should be called before the Oireachtas as soon as possible to explain what has been going on for the last 12 months,” Mr Mulvey said.
Speaking on Newstalk's Breakfast Show earlier today, Mr Mulvey also said there was a need to know why the banking sector acted in the way it did. "It seems to be that all the normal risk assessments that should have been undertaken were never undertaken - there has to be responsibility for this. This is outside the whole issue of bailing out the banks."
Asked if he believe the banking inquiry would deal with these issues, Mr Mulvey claimed it would be too late for any real action to be taken. “We need action immediately by the fraud squad. We need action by the Office of Corporate Enforcement,” he said. “Otherwise we will end up with a 14-year tribunal of inquiry like what’s going on in Dublin Castle with people only making money out of it.”
Ictu president Jack O’Connor said this afternoon the payment to Mr Boucher showed there was “one rule for working people and another for those at the top”.
Speaking after a meeting of Ictu’s national executive, he said the controversy had damaged the public perception of the behaviour of those in authority more than anything that had happened since the financial crisis broke in September 2008.
Mr O’Connor said it would have a determinantal effect on the outcome of the current ballot on the Cork Park public sector pay deal. “Rightly or wrongly, it is being interpreted as a signal that despite all the talk of a new departure, it is business as usual,” he said. “It is the nod and the wink. If a thing can’t be done one way, it will be done another way.”
Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who yesterday said it was a private pension issue and not matter for Government involvement, said it would be "helpful" if Mr Boucher did not accept the payment. "Obviously it would help in public perception terms," he said.
Green Party leader John Gormley earlier this week called on Mr Boucher to forgo his pension top-up, saying people working in the public sector were enraged when they heard stories of “personal enrichment”. Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív also said the executive should not accept the money.
