Kerins receives €240,000 salary, says Rehab

The board of Rehab Group has capitulated to politicial pressure to disclose the salary of its chief executive Angela Kerins.

In a statement this evening after a special board meeting to discuss the controversy over her pay, the board said Ms Kerins’ current salary is €240,000. Rehab also pays 6 per cent contribution - €14,400 - to her defined contibution pension.

“The rate of pay for the Rehab group chief executive is significantly below the market median,” the board said in a statement.

Rehab chairman Brian Kerry said Ms Kerins' remuneration was "competitive and fair. " In order to achieve our growth strategy and expand services to people who need them, a remuneration policy to attract and retain qualified and talented employees is vital, and the CEO role is no exception."

Rehab last disclosed Ms Kerin's remuneration in 2011, when her salary was €234,000. Amid controversy last month over the Central Remedial Clinic affair, Ms Kerins declined in the course of an interview on RTÉ radio to reveal her current pay.

This - and a dispute with Minister for Justice Alan Shatter over the low profit margins in Rehab's charity lottery - led to huge pressure on the organisation to disclose Ms Kerin's current pay. The board meeting today, almost a month in the planning, comes ahead of an appearance by the organisation before the Public Accounts Committee.

Mr Kerr cited three reasons for the board’s reluctance to publish Ms Kerins’ pay. “Firstly Rehab continuously competes for business at home and abroad with a range of private companies which do not have to disclose such information,” he said.

“Secondly, we wanted to receive up to date advice from our legal and remuneration advisors and thirdly we are also acutely conscious of our duty to all of our employees under privacy law and the Data Protection Acts 1998 and 2003. Our chief executive Ms. Kerins has waived her rights to confidentiality and encouraged the publication of this information.”

While the board has said Ms Kerins has voluntarily waived “all bonus entitlements” for the last four years, it did not specify the value of those bonus entitlements. It said Ms Kerins has the use of a company car for which she pays benefit in kind tax but did not disclose the value of the benefit.

"The CEO, like all members of the Rehab Group Board, does not receive directors' fees for the various subsidiary boards on which she sits," Rehab said.

Rehab said its staff have never been members of a public service pension scheme, nor enjoy similar benefits. “The assets of Rehab Group pension schemes are held in independent trustee administered funds and the Rehab Group is subject to the Pensions Acts and regulated by the Pensions Regulator.”