Government too focused on increasing pay for high earners – Mairéad Farrell TD
30 April 2025
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Public Expenditure and Reform, Mairéad Farrell TD, has said that Minister Jack Chambers needs to urgently clarify his plans to reform the pay ceilings for the CEO of Irish commercial State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Deputy Farrell’s comments came in response to Minister Chamber’s statement that it is ‘clear that the State may not always be able to attract the best candidates for these critical positions’ .
Under his proposals, there would be eight levels of pay set at a salary range of 80% to 120% of the market median for each respective band. These would be set based on the company’s finances, staffing levels, and overall performance.
Teacha Farrell said:
“I support the state engaging in commercial activities where it’s viable, necessary and will bring a return for the taxpayer. However, many of the CEOs of our SOEs are already well paid.
“For the year 2023, the CEOs of NAMA and the NTMA earned yearly salaries of €449k and €570k, respectively. Minister Chambers is claiming these aren’t competitive. I’m sorry, but I fail to see how that is the case.
“I’m also a little concerned about his plan to use some kind of median market-based salary benchmark which looks at international competitors, both state-owned and privately held.
“Take RTE for example, according to their latest annual report (2023) they ran a deficit of €9.1m. Its commercial revenues fell 6.2%, whilst operating costs increased by €9.3 million.
“I hope this isn’t some exercise where the government will just look at the likes of the BBC, CNN, Sky News, etc., take an average and then look to increase the CEO’s pay.
“We’ve already had multiple increases to TDs, Ministers and Junior Ministers salaries.
“In the last Dáil the Finance Committee had to have a hearing and issue a report after one top level civil servant was awarded around €300k of a yearly salary.
“It’s funny how international benchmarks are key for high earners, but never for low wage workers. We’re told that increasing the minimum wage to a living wage will harm our competitiveness. Yet here they are saying the opposite – that if we don’t increase the wages of high earners, it will harm our competitiveness.
“It seems like it’s one rule for high earners and another for the low paid.”
