Minister for Communications, Media and Sport Patrick O’Donovan has emphasised the importance of prudence in the setting of salaries for senior staff in semi-State companies. The Minister was responding to a report that he was in dispute with the board of An Post over pay for its new chief executive and key elements of its development strategy.
The board had proposed an annual salary of about €360,000 for the next chief executive of An Post, who will take over from David McRedmond in the coming weeks. The Irish Times reported last month that An Post was lining up Fergal Leamy, the former head of Coillte and Glen Dimplex, for the role.
O’Donovan told Newstalk Breakfast with Anton Savage that the Government had to be very conscious of pay demands placed on it.
“Ireland is not immune from geopolitical conflicts that are around the world,” O’Donovan said. “And our economy is a small, open economy. And we have to be very conscious of the fact that there are risks on the horizon that none of us know how they’re going to impact on the economy.
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“So prudence is always important. But it’s also important to make sure that in a strong, open economy, you have strong public sector companies, of which An Post is one.
O’Donovan declined “to get into the weeds” about the exact salary for An Post’s new chief executive, but said he had a very good meeting with the chairman of An Post “and there was no row whatsoever”.
“I have a very good relationship with Kieran Mulvey, and we had a very good discussion about a lot of things going on in the organisation,“ he said. “But we have laid out, together with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, what we believe is an adequate salary for the new incoming CEO.
“We obviously are in a situation where the board of An Post are trying to make an appointment, and hopefully that appointment will be made shortly. So I don’t think it would be appropriate for me, while they are finishing out discussions with a candidate, [to discuss contractual details] ... once the board have made an appointment, which I think will be fairly soon, everything will become apparent then with regard to salaries, remunerations, total packages and everything else.”
