THE new report on Dr Eddie O'Connor's remuneration as Bord na Mona managing director, ordered by the directors this week, will cover the entire nine years that he has held the position. The previous report by Price Waterhouse, which was considered by the directors on Thursday, covered only the last three years.
The directors of Bord na Mona are due to get the new report before their next monthly meeting. However, the chairman, Mr Pat Dineen, has asked the Minister for Energy, Mr Lowry, to meet him and some of the directors to discuss the controversy.
Mr Dineen said last night: "Several of the directors who were appalled at revelations of payments to the chief executive at the board meeting on Thursday, have asked me to seek an urgent meeting with the Minister so they can explain that they had no knowledge of the payments."
The Price Waterhouse report shows that Dr O'Connor, received £141,000 in expenses over the last three years, of which almost £39,000 was paid without any receipts being furnished by Dr O'Connor. Another £14,500 of the expenses were identified as "extra to business" expenses by Price Waterhouse in the report, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times.
In the report, the accountants add that, no "benefit" value has been attributed to Dr O'Connor to reflect the cost incurred by Bord Na Mona in "settling the outcome of the 1995 Revenue Audit which inter alia, challenged and disallowed these unvouched expeises". Bord na Mona confirmed this week that it paid £15,000 to the Revenue Commissioners in 1995 in settlement of tax owed on Dr O'Connor's package. The company has refused to explain why it made the settlement on the managing director's behalf.
Dr O'Connor has maintained that all elements of his package were agreed with the former chairman, Dr Brendan Halligan. The former chairman has refused to comment on the issue.
The Price Waterhouse report goes on to analyse Dr O'Connor's travel expenses. Dr O'Connor spent £13,353 on flights during the three years covered by the report, of which only £8,252 was identified as business related by Dr O'Connor and the accountants. The remaining £5,101 was deemed to be part of Dr O'Connor's benefit package.
"Benefits' for this purpose are computed as half of the cost of flights where EOC (Eddie O'Connor) was accompanied by his wife or family", according to the report.
Dr O'Connor spent around £2.400 in the period on suits which he charged to the company in lieu of medical insurance payments. Dr O'Connor's was entitled to have his and his family's VHI subscription paid by the company.
However, Price Waterhouse reports: "We understand that EOC did not avail of this benefit in 1993/94 or 1994/95 but instead availed of an alternative benefit (suits) at an approximate cost of £1,200 in each year."
The report also shows that the company paid Dr O'Connor's membership of Elm Park golf club in Dublin 4. This cost between £987 and £1,045 a year.
Other aspects of Dr O'Connor's package are detailed. He received a company car with a list price of £31,800 and extras worth £6,750. The benefit in kind on the car was, computed at £9,540 a year.
Dr O'Connor also received a £50,000 home loan at 5 per cent interest. The benefit in kind on this was £1,000 a year.
Other benefits included home security, costed at £268 and £299 a year and his home telephone, which was worked out at between £495 and £656 a year.
Dr O'Connor's pension, life and permanent health insurance payments were £27,318 in 1993 and £28,729 in 1994. No figure is given for 1995. This was on top of a basic salary which went from £56,616 in 1993 to £65,618 in 1995.
In addition, Dr O'Connor received bonuses of £10,657 for his performance in 1993 and £12,007 in respect of 1994. As a member of the board of the company, he also received directors' fees of £4,000 a year.
Bord na Mona also paid the £9,020 a year premium on a bond with Sun Life of Canada. Dr O'Connor was the owner and intended beneficiary of the bond, which raised tax issues, according to Price Waterhouse.
"There may be tax implications from the operation of this bond arrangement because we understand that, while the bond is in EOC's name, the premia paid have not been treated as income for PAYE/PRSI purposes by EOC/BNM (Bord na Mona). We understand that an undertaking has been given by EOC that, on leaving the company and receiving the bond, the issue will be dealt with correctly from the tax viewpoint", the report says. The bond is a life assurance policy that matures in 1997.
