Semi-states' management losses worry for Cabinet

The Cabinet is discussing ways to retain high-quality management in the semi-state sector, the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid…

The Cabinet is discussing ways to retain high-quality management in the semi-state sector, the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, said yesterday. Existing pay guidelines were making it difficult to keep and attract the best people, he said.

Dr McDaid, who has responsibility for Bord Failte, was commenting on the loss of its director general, Mr Matt McNulty, its director for Europe, Ms Orla Brannigan and, last year, its international marketing director, Mr Noel Toolan. Ms Brannigan and Mr Toolan left Bord Failte to join software companies.

"We do realise we are losing good people and we have been discussing the problem in Cabinet," Dr McDaid said.

A number of the commercial semi-states have side-stepped the Government's pay guidelines - recommended in the Gleeson and Buckley reports - by offering their chief executives contracts. The head of Telecom Eireann, Mr Alfie Kane, is understood to be earning about £200,000 a year. The chief executive of Aer Lingus, Mr Gary McGann, who was recruited from Grand Metropolitan, is believed to be on a similar salary.

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The Government has agreed with the thrust of the Buckley report that salaries in the public sector should be comparable with those in the private sector, but that managers in the public sector should be held to the same high-performance measurement as managers in the private sector.

A move by the VHI to recruit Mr Ray Bates, chief executive of the National Lottery, has been blocked by the Government's refusal so far to sanction a salary that would breach the guidelines.