FG/Labour Finance Minister bottles it on big banker pay at AGM

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

Bank of Ireland chief’s cap-busting pay no concern to Michael Noonan or Labour leadership

THE Fine Gael/Labour Finance Minister has no problem hammering low- and middle-income earners but Michael Noonan will sit idly by at today’s Bank of Ireland AGM vote on the huge pay package of CEO Richie Boucher.

Minister Noonan holds a 15% stake in BoI on behalf of the taxpayer but he will sit on it when it comes to the vote and abstain.

'Richie Rich' – described in the Dáil by even a Labour TD as “one of the architects of the lending bubble” – takes a basic salary of €690,000 (smashing the Government cap of €500,000) which with add-ons and pension payments ratchets up to more than €800,000.

Wednesday’s Irish Times says that Finance Minister Noonan is being urged to “send very clear message over ‘outrageous salaries’ in banks”.

He is.

His message is: keep on coining it at the top.