The IMPACT trade union has strongly criticised Ordnance Survey Ireland for failing to cut the pay of its chief executive, Geraldine Ruane, in line with the public service pay cuts applied to all other staff.
Yesterday, it emerged that the board chaired by former Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise & Employment Kevin Bonner had argued to the Department of Finance that the public service pay cut did not apply to Ms Ruane because she was on a fixed term seven-year commercial contract.
However, the head of the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform, Robert Watt, insisted in a letter to Mr Bonner that Ms Ruane was not exempt and that OSI must recover all back money equivalent to an 8% pay cut on her salary of €160,000 backdated to January 2010.
In earlier correspondence, Mr Watt's predecessor Ciaran Connolly states: "It is highly inappropriate that the Board of the OSi continue to obfuscate on this matter and has not, despite a clear legislative requirement to do so, applied the appropriate pay adjustment. I would emphasise that the Board of OSi does not have the luxury or discretion to determine on these matters and must ...implement the requirements of the Act."
Ms Ruane will repay the money due before the end of the year.
In a letter to Mr Bonner, IMPACT National Secretary Matt Staunton pointed out that staff had been subjected to both the pension levy and pay cut totalling on average 14%.
He says that against this background, OSI staff were "disgusted and surprised" to read that the board had not applied Ms Ruane's pay cut, and had defended that position to the Department of Finance.
He said it would not be easy to implement the massive reform programme due under Croke Park in light of the discovery that the board believed there was one rule for staff and another for the chief executive when it came to the implementation of public service pay policy.
Mr Staunton is seeking an explanation of the board's handling of the issue, and an assurance that no other OSI staff were exempted from the pay cut.
In a statement, Ordnance Survey Ireland said Ms Ruane had a fixed term commercial contract and was not a permanent public servant.
It said that as with many commercial businesses in the country, OSI was hit hard with the economic downturn.
Despite this, Geraldine Ruane had led the organisation to perform strongly, delivering a projected total income in 2011 of €24m and an operating surplus of €0.5m.
Sources also pointed out that while she had an entitlement to a bonus of up to 35% of her salary of around €160,000, her bonus had never exceeded 25%.
No bonus had been paid since 2007, and deferred bonuses since then would not be paid.
