Staff at Uisce Éireann can get annual bonuses up to €30,000, a Dáil committee has heard.
There are 328 employees on salaries between €100,000 and €200,000 at the body formerly known as Irish Water, and a further 16 who are being paid more than €200,000, the Committee of Public Accounts was told.
Bonuses go from "5% up to a maximum of 15%," Niall Gleeson, Managing Director of Uisce Éireann, said.
Chris McCarthy, Chief Financial Officer at Uisce Éireann, clarified that "20% is the absolute cap", and that a staff member could get a bonus of "up to €30,000".
He said he prefers the term "pay at risk", as the bonus payment is performance-related and not an entitlement.
About 100 staff have car allowances, the committee heard.
There are 833 employees being paid under €100,000, Green TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh noted.
Mr Ó Cathasaigh, who formerly worked as a teacher, noted that a primary school teacher's salary "maxed out" at €72,950 after 25 years and wondered what warranted the higher salaries Uisce Éireann is paying.
Uisce Éireann paid €10 million in bonus payments, around 10% of its total staff costs last year, Green TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh noted.
"We send about 10,000 people to work every day," Mr Gleeson said, adding that those in senior positions have a lot of responsibility.
"We would say that we pay within market rates. We're benchmarked," Mr Gleeson said, adding that he has lost four senior managers to the private sector in the past two years.
"We're certainly not overpaying."
