One employee at Uisce Éireann received €32,500 in performance-related awards last year on top of a salary of more than €100,000.
The Dáil Public Accounts Committee was told on Thursday that about 400 personnel, or more than 20 per cent of staff at the national water utility, earned more than €100,000.
Uisce Éireann said 93 per cent of its 2,108 staff last year were eligible to receive performance-related awards.
Just over €13 million was paid out last year in performance-related payments. The organisation said it operated a market-based, benchmarked pay model.
RM Block
Public Accounts Committee chairman John Brady of Sinn Féin described the €32,500 performance-related payment figure as “extraordinary”.
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Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson, who does not qualify for any bonus payment under the terms of his contract, disagreed. He said Uisce Éireann benchmarked its staff against lots of other companies.
“We have to retain staff. We have lost staff to the private sector. People need to be rewarded, and we reward them based on the pay scale that we have.”
He said the organisation includes scientists, engineers and very senior management.
“I will lose staff if I do not retain this pay structure,” he said.
Mr Gleeson said that, under the terms of the bonus scheme, staff members are set individual targets and received a rating based on their achievements. However, he said if the company does not perform well during the year, the bonus amount is reduced.
Mr Brady said the maths suggested only about 50 people in the organisation did not receive a bonus last year.
Uisce Éireann chief financial officer Chris McCarthy said the lowest performance payment last year was €77.
He told Cathy Bennett of Sinn Féin that staff moving to the utility from local authorities would not receive annual incremental pay rises, which are common across the public service. Instead, he said, Uisce Éireann operates a market-based pay model with two components: a base salary, and “pay-at-risk” arrangements that provide incentives to work harder and deliver objectives.
Mr McCarthy said a similar pay model is in operation at other commercial State companies such as the ESB and Gas Networks Ireland.
The utility’s representatives told James Geoghegan of Fine Gael that it provided capacity for developers to connect about 41,000 housing units to water and waste water services last year.
They said Uisce Éireann did not make connections to individual houses or apartments, as this is a matter for developers. They said it facilitated water connections for up to 41,169 units but do not have figures for the number of properties actually connected to water services.
