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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Will rent reform hitting holiday lets irk Coalition's own Ministers?
Last month, the secretary general at the Department of Environment, Climate and Energy stepped in at the last minute for her Minister, Darragh O'Brien, at a clean energy event. She told the event that data centres were eating up all of our energy supply. With this one throwaway comment, Oonagh Buckley attracted more headlines and political attention than most senior civil servants would be comfortable with. 'We're having to even think about prioritising what is the social need of the demand – is it housing or is it AI?' she asked. 'We're going to have to think much more about managing demand.' READ MORE As existential questions about our infrastructure continue to plague the Government, Jack Horgan-Jones is reporting in our lead story today that data centres would be able to use 'private wires' to power themselves independently from the ESB power grid. Big energy users would be able to build and operate electricity infrastructure, including between power sources and data centres, under a policy that will be published next month. It comes after Sean O'Driscoll, head of the ESRI and a member of the Government's new infrastructure tax force, warned on Tuesday that Ireland cannot expect to attract companies 'like Apple, Microsoft, Google into Ireland and say to them: 'we'd like some of your jobs, but we're not going to provide you with data centres.' We can provide them with data centres if we invest in our infrastructure,' he said. On the subject of infrastructure, Michael McDowell also has an interesting column today on how to reform our planning system and neuter the constant issue of judicial reviews being taken against planning decisions. RPZs The Government promised us that it wasn't afraid to take unpopular decisions on housing. It probably didn't anticipate them being unpopular with their own ministers, though. We are reporting this morning that thousands of short-term holiday lettings on the west coast and elsewhere will require planning permission as a result of emergency laws extending Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) nationwide by the end of this week. Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and, more importantly, Kerry TD, Michael Healy-Rae tells The Irish Times that he is 'extremely concerned' about the impact this policy would have on his constituency. In advance of the law changing, Killarney is the only part of Kerry currently covered by RPZs. This means that the entire Kerry coastline from Listowel down to Kenmare is dotted with Airbnb style lettings, which may be crucial to rural tourism, which will all now be forced to apply for planning permission. Asked if he wished to comment, Mr Healy-Rae did in his own inimitable style: 'Isn't it a major concern of mine?' This issue likely won't escape the notice of senior Government ministers hailing from some of Ireland's most bucolic constituencies, including Kerrywoman Norma Foley, who are almost certain to face ferocious representations from unhappy Airbnb hosts on this issue. Trouble could also be brewing between two ministerial James' on the impact RPZ reforms will have on students. At a press conference yesterday, Minister for Housing James Browne told reporters that there will be no special exemption for students under new RPZ legislation. This was despite an appeal for such an exemption coming from Minster for Further and Higher Education James Lawless. The pair had been due to meet yesterday, but that has been deferred to next week. Immigration Elsewhere in the paper, Conor Gallagher and Martin Wall are reporting on the decision agreed at Cabinet yesterday to buy the Citywest Hote l and make it a permanent processing centre for International Protection Applicants. As the annual bill for using private providers to accommodate people who come to Ireland seeking asylum has breached €1 billion a year, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan is under pressure to find ways to provider 14,000 State-owned beds for asylum seekers by 2028. Buying Citywest will cost the State €148.2 million, but Mr O'Callaghan has predicted that the Government 'will have got our money back in terms of the investment' after four years. The company that runs the hotel received more than €18 million between January and March of this year, for accommodating both international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees. And finally, Joe Brennan is reporting in Business on the Government moving yesterday to lift the State's remaining €500,000 executive pay cap at bailed-out banks after selling its remaining shares in AIB. Best Reads With the inauspicious image of a fox who drowned in the fountain outside Government buildings yesterday, Miriam Lord writes about the Groundhog Day style stagnant exchanges between Opposition and Government on the perma-crisis of housing While writing about the Irish presidency, the job that nobody seems to want, Kathy Sheridan offers up a rollicking read on the delirious days of the 2011 election. And Sally Hayden is reporting from Beirut on the 'sense of panic and deepening fears of a wider conflict' in the Middle East, with aerial attacks and missiles being fired between Israel and Iran Playbook The Dáil schedule today is being dominated by emergency legislation to extend RPZs to the entire country. After a housing rally outside Leinster House last night, Labour published its own emergency amendments to the legislation which it says would introduce a two year rent freeze and fine landlords up to €100,000 for breaking the law. The Dáil schedule looks like this: 09.00 Topical Issues 10.00 Private Members' Business is a Motion from the Independent and Parties Technical Group on public transport experiences 12.00 Leaders' Questions 12.34 Other Members' Questions 12.42 Questions on policy or legislation 13.12 Motions without debate, which is Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025 – Financial Resolution. 14.13 Government business, which is devoted to getting through second stage, committee stage and remaining stages of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025, the new RPZ reforms 19.47 Government business then moves to committee stage of the Mental Health Bill 2024 22.17 Deferred division on the: Criminal Law (Prohibition of the Disclosure of Counselling Records) Bill 2025, Ruth Coppinger's bill to ban the use of counselling notes in rape trials The Seanad schedule looks like this: 10.30 Commencement matters 11.30 Order of Business 14.00 Government business, first slot of which is for Statements on Food Promotion and New Markets 15.30 Followed by another Government business slot, for Statements on the Farrelly Commission Report 17.00 Private Members' Business, which is a motion on enterprise matters and business supports for SME's It's a busy day for Committees, with all of the following taking place on the Leinster House campus today: the HSE are appearing before the disability matters committee, Hiqa and the minister for older people are appearing before the health committee to answer questions on nursing homes, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be talking to politicians about the Israeli Bond Programme and the Committee on Social Protection will hear from the ESRI, which is proposing a new Child Benefit tier to challenge child poverty. This comes after the Taoiseach signalled this week that such a measure is on the table for Budget 2026. You can read the full committee schedule here .
Irish Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Semi-state CEOs: What do they earn and should they be paid more?
In the early part of last year, the then minister for housing Darragh O'Brien received warnings from the boards of three commercial companies under his remit that their operations were facing serious potential difficulties. The chairmen of Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) , Uisce Éireann and the Land Development Agency maintained that government-imposed pay restrictions for their top executives posed 'very real and serious risks' to the work of the organisations. 'The boards of GNI and Uisce Éireann have expressed serious concerns to the minister about the potential loss of the CEO at a critical time for both companies which are significant in scale and complexity', the secretary general of the Department of Housing, Graham Doyle, told a top-level pay review that had been established several months earlier by the cabinet. He told the group that 'the risks associated with these challenges must be fully understood in the context of the concerns being raised by the chairs and their boards and appropriate consideration of mitigating steps to address these risks may be considered as part of your review'. READ MORE [ Eamon Ryan backed higher pay and bonuses to attract best CEOs to commercial State bodies Opens in new window ] It was against this backdrop of such warnings, that the Government in April changed the rules governing pay determination for chief executives in nearly 30 commercial companies owned by the State. Over the coming months boardrooms will look again, under a new system, at how much they should be paying their chief executives. It is clear that many believe that their top executives are not being paid enough, but felt their hands were tied to a large degree by controls that had been in place for 14 years. This led, some boards maintained, to a lopsided pay structure whereby some CEOs earned less than subordinates. Boards and senior figures in their parent departments also expressed concern that CEOs did not receive increments or cost-of-living rises. Performance bonuses, banned since 2011 for most chief executives, were still paid to other executives. This all meant the pay gap between the CEO and others in some companies had narrowed or disappeared completely. Some boards, as O'Brien was warned, feared losing bosses to more lucrative roles elsewhere. Such concerns were not new. For several years a number of boards had been pressing ministers to reform rules governing top-level pay that dated back to the economic crash well over a decade ago. In 2011 the then minister for public expenditure Brendan Howlin introduced, with some exceptions, a general pay cap of €250,000 for chief executives in commercial State companies. There was, he said, in light of the ongoing severe economic conditions facing the country at the time, a need for leadership to be shown by those who held high office across the public sector In the interim, pay rises have been approved for CEOs in such companies on a case-by-case basis. Last year the then government agreed a €50,000 increase for the salary of the new chief executive of EirGrid, the State company that develops, manages and operates the electricity grid, bringing the rate to about €300,000. This followed representations made by the then minister for environment, climate and communications, Eamon Ryan . Figures published generally as part of annual reports show that in several cases pay rates are above the figures set in 2011, but not by a considerable amount. Published figures show that An Post chief executive David McRedmond's total remuneration came to €318,000 in 2023. ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes had a total remuneration package of €372,946. Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson had a total package of €276,000 in 2023 while DAA boss Kenny Jacobs 's overall remuneration came to €347,457 in the same year. [ John McManus: Kenny Jacobs's €374,830 salary is a soft target; the problem lies elsewhere Opens in new window ] But there had not been any systematic review of CEO total pay since the Howlin rules were introduced in 2011. Almost exactly 14 years later the current Minister Jack Chambers said a new approach was needed. He said in the coming years many CEOs in commercial State bodies would be required 'to deliver significant projects whilst managing the funding and financing of these projects'. He said fair and appropriate remuneration was a key element in the recruitment and retention of CEOs of commercial State bodies who are critical to the State's future development and economic performance. The Minister said the pay review group had 'concluded that the current system of CEO remuneration and contracts is not optimal in serving the interests of the commercial State bodies, the State or the taxpayer'. Many chief executives can expect to see significant pay rises as the companies move pay towards market rates under new structures put in place. However, there will not be a free-for-all. While boards will receive greater freedom, some rules will still apply. And while the Cabinet agreed to implement most of the 17 recommendations put forward by the Senior Posts Remuneration Committee (SPRC), it did not accept all of them. Chambers said the upper limit on any proposed package would be the market rate rather than 120 per cent of it. He said there would be no backdating of any increases to May 1st of last year, another committee recommendation, and no reintroduction of performance-related bonuses worth up to 25 per cent of salaries, which was also proposed both by the SPRC and by some ministers in the previous government. Chambers said a banded pay structure would be implemented for CEOs ranging from their current salary to the market median of the relevant band. 'In line with the SPRC findings in relation to increased flexibility for boards, the boards will propose a point on the banded salary structure ranging from the current fixed-point salary to the relevant market median.' Ministers will still have to give approval for salary proposals for chief executives in commercial State companies operating in their areas of responsibility and the Department of Public Expenditure will also have to give its consent. Boards may have been arguing for years that they needed to compete on pay to secure top talent, but the cautious approach adopted by Ministers over recent years shows the political nervousness surrounding remuneration at the highest levels of the State sector. The new pay structures can be traced back to March 2022 when then minister for public expenditure Paschal Donohoe established an independent review panel to look at processes for recruiting top management in the public sector and the mechanisms for determining pay and conditions. On foot of its report, the cabinet in March 2024 established the SPRC, chaired by chartered accountant Maeve Carton (who is a governor of The Irish Times Trust) and set as its first priority a review of pay rates of CEOs in commercial State bodies. Analysis carried out by SPRC found in terms of base salary, 20 of the 28 commercial State bodies were below 80 per cent of the market median – equivalent to 68 per cent of market median on average – when it came to remuneration for chief executives. About 15 commercial State companies made submissions to the SPRC. However, the Department of Public Expenditure has refused to release these documents, partly on the grounds that it had 'provided assurances to the relevant parties that sensitive personal information would be treated in confidence'. However, the internal papers of the earlier Independent Review Panel showed a host of commercial State companies wanted greater freedom and flexibility in setting top-level pay rates and believed that arrangements in place since 2011 were too restrictive. Several want to be permitted to reintroduce bonus or performance payments for their chief executives. ESB told the independent panel that to attract and retain the best talent, the company must have 'competitive and market-facing remuneration for everyone in the organisation including the chief executive'. It suggested salary ranges that were in place before the crash in 2008 should be reinstated; that there should be an external review of the commercial State sector every three or five years which would place companies in a particular band; and that, internally, the chairman and the board would have the flexibility to set a competitive remuneration package for the chief executive. While the Department of Public Expenditure has contended that individual company submissions to the SPRC are private and off-limits, Carton had sought Ministers to make submissions about CEO pay in companies in their own areas. A number of these submissions provide insights into the thinking of both the boards as well as of Ministers and senior civil servants in their line departments. Many of the State commercial companies come within the transport and energy sectors and Ryan as minister covering both areas in the last government submitted comprehensive documents. Catherine Martin and Stephen Donnelly also made submissions as did Doyle, secretary general at the Department of Housing. The Department of Agriculture also set out its position in relation to pay at Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) and the Irish National Stud (INS). The department said it understood that 'difficulties have been experienced by some State bodies in recruitment and/or retention at this level'. It revealed that on receipt of business cases made by the commercial State bodies, it had approved the departure from the 2011 salary ranges for new appointees to CEO posts, for HRI in 2021 and in 2023. The Department of Public Expenditure had given consent in both cases. It said the basic salary levels were: HRI €191,000; RCÉ €160,000 and INS €110,569. Ryan told the SPRC that 12 commercial organisations came under his remit as minister for transport and that some had experienced difficulties in attracting and retaining chief executives. He proposed that there could be one arrangement for agencies that operated in a highly competitive setting and a different approach for those who provided 'more in way of a public service'. 'Given the sector-specific context and diversity in play, a one-size-fits-all approach is not working in attracting talent, particularly when international consideration and comparators are taken into account,' he wrote. Ryan wanted government departments and agencies to have greater freedom to offer more competitive packages, including performance bonuses and increments, when seeking CEOs for commercial State bodies. He also supported more flexibility on the duration of contracts, with an option to extend the time in the role. Ryan's submission also revealed, based on 2023 figures, that at airport operator DAA, three personnel earned more than the CEO , who received €347,457 in total remuneration that year. The submission said this was also the case before the appointment of the current chief executive in 2023. Ryan's Department of Environment, Climate and Communications also said the board of the ESB had 'significant concern' that the salary for company's chief executive was insufficient for retaining an appropriately skilled person for the role. 'The chair of ESB has also noted the current salary as insufficient to attract the calibre of candidate sought for the role in comparison to alternative employment options available to them.' In an appendix to Ryan's submission, last summer, officials said at that point the post of ESB chief executive had a salary of €318,000. The submission said this was also the case before the appointment of the current chief executive in 2023. The then minister for health, Stephen Donnelly, said while some form of policy was necessary regarding chief executive remuneration in the commercial State sector, 'a strong case can be made for those bodies which do not have recourse to the State for funding to be dealt with in a different manner to reflect this'. State-owned health insurer VHI came under Donnelly's remit. The Department of Arts and Media under former minister Catherine Martin backed increasing the €250,000 pay rate for the head of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst , as it said it had fallen considerably in real terms due to rising living costs. The department also supported a higher salary for the director general of TG4, which stands at just over €160,000. The department said the salaries attributable to the director general positions in both broadcasters had 'declined significantly in real terms since 2016 and have not taken account of cost-of-living pressures'. Doyle's submission said remuneration for the CEO at GNI and Uisce Éireann included a fixed-base salary of €225,000 with no provision for increments or indexation. The packages also included private health insurance for the CEO, spouse and dependent children. The submission said in both companies there were two employees paid more than the chief executive. It maintained that two executives had left both companies in the previous 12 months.
BreakingNews.ie
04-06-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Dublin and Cork airports both had busiest ever May in 2025
Dublin and Cork airports both had their busiest ever May last month. Passenger numbers were up 4.5 per cent in Dublin Airport, with three 120,000 passenger days in May, while Cork Airport passenger numbers were up 17 per cent. Advertisement Cork Airport welcomed over 330,000 passengers in May, following their announcement last month of a €200 million capital investment plan. Dublin Airport welcomed more than 3,257,700 passengers in May, and on 27 days, there were more than 100,000 passengers passing through. The previous highest ever number of passengers in the month of May was 115,000 on May 23rd, 2024. The May performance reflects the demand that exists to travel through Ireland's national hub airport and onwards to other destinations throughout the island, as well as people connecting from Ireland to destinations across the world, a daa press release said. Advertisement The company added that "due to the High Court decision that the Irish Aviation Authority cannot take the passenger planning cap into account when allocating slots to airlines, the number of flights has surged in the summer period". "However, this is a temporary relief pending the outcome of the legal process currently before the European Court of Justice, and the cap remains in place until a solution is found," they said. "Daa continues to do all it can to remove the passenger cap through the planning system and welcomes the comments by Minister of Transport Darragh O'Brien at Dublin Chamber of Commerce last month that he expects to bring forward legislative proposals to resolve the issue in the coming months, while respecting the independence of the planning process." Daa chief executive Kenny Jacobs said that the May Bank Holiday weekend brought a brilliant start to the month at Cork Airport, with passenger numbers on that weekend up 20 per cent on the same weekend in 2024. Advertisement "We're also celebrating new routes, including the start last Saturday of SunExpress' route to Izmir in Türkiye. SunExpress is Cork's ninth and newest airline, and it's great to have a direct service to Türkiye on the route map," he said. "With the peak holiday season now in full flow, the whole team at Cork Airport are well prepared for a very busy summer - quite possibly the busiest summer ever. It's great to see such healthy numbers on some of our inbound services from the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy as tourists fly to Cork – the gateway to the South of Ireland," Mr Jacob added. He also said that summer has come early to Dublin Airport, with May 2025 "comfortably" their busiest ever, with three record-breaking 120,000+ passenger days. "It's all hands-on-deck across the airport to make sure our passengers have a smooth and enjoyable time at the airport, and we're working hard to ensure standards are even higher than they were last summer when our passenger satisfaction scores reached an all-time high," Mr Jacobs said. Advertisement "We've listened closely to what areas passengers want us to focus on, and we are using that feedback to introduce a whole host of improvements that aim to remove pinch points for those both arriving and departing from our terminals." He added that May numbers at Dublin Airport were boosted by the launch of new routes, including direct Aer Lingus services to Nashville and Indianapolis. "Of course, we would be adding even more high-demand new routes if it wasn't for the uncertainty of the passenger cap, which is still making airlines cautious about bringing increased frequencies and new direct routes to locations like India, Brazil and Singapore. That will remain the case until the cap is fully removed," he said. "Research we commissioned from independent polling company Red C found that 86 per cent of Fingal residents support further development of Dublin Airport to allow it to grow, while 84% agree that having the airport in their community fuels economic development".
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Londonderry to Dublin flights 'could resume by end of 2026'
Flights between Londonderry and Dublin could resume by the end of 2026 after a 14-year break, an Irish government minister has said.A daily flight between City of Derry Airport and Dublin, funded by the Irish government, was withdrawn in to revive the service faltered in 2016 following the Brexit Irish government minister and Donegal TD (Irish MP) Charlie McConalogue has told BBC News NI discussions to have the service reinstated by the end of next year are ongoing. "The Irish government are committed to stepping this forward, have put a timeline in place as to how we can make this happen, and I have been liaising with the minister for transport and City of Derry management," he told BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson said restoring the route had been a commitment in the Irish government's programme for government and it would added that next month the transport Minister Darragh O'Brien will meet management at the airport to further progress the plans. The route would be funded under a public service obligation (PSO).A PSO air route sees a government support flights which would not be commercially viable without financial the London government provides financial backing for the Derry to London PSO route. 'A real disadvantage to Derry and Donegal' McConalogue said the loss of the service in 2011 has "been a real disadvantage to Derry, Donegal, and the north west region".Its resumption would provide the region with "really important connectivity, international connectivity," he added: "Obviously there are a number of steps there in terms of the economic analysis and the role of the Shared Island Unit which has been very important to a number of initiatives."The Irish government's Shared Island Unit was established in 2020 to deliver all-island investment has previously been put towards big projects in Northern Ireland like the A5 road and the redevelopment of Casement Park.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Possible bus and rail infrastructure for Shannon Airport raised with Government
The Government has been asked to consider a 'high speed bus network' for the Shannon catchment area as part of a strategy to wrest aircraft traffic from Dublin Airport . In a letter outlining the need for a fundamental rethink of aviation policy across the island, Shannon Airport Group chief executive Mary Considine also argued the west of Ireland terminal would probably see a rail link before the capital. In a 'Seven Supporting Arguments' document presented by Ms Considine at the outset of the new Dáil, she said that the impasse around Dublin's 32 million annual passenger cap had become a distraction from a broader debate on regional expansion and sustainability. 'One assumption that should be challenged is that Ireland has an aviation and airports policy that is fit-for-purpose. We do not,' she wrote in a letter seeking a significant reassessment as part of the programme for government. READ MORE [ Transport Minister hopes legislation can resolve Dublin passenger cap Opens in new window ] [ TD calls for changes to boost regional services Opens in new window ] 'Whatever the future holds, a planning decision on the Dublin [Airport passenger] cap is at least two years away. There is a better chance there will be a rail connection to Shannon before one arrives at Dublin Airport.' Minister of Transport Darragh O'Brien has been holding a series of stakeholder meetings in recent weeks as the Government prepares to renew its ten year National Aviation Policy , with a draft anticipated in early 2026. This has opened the door for critics of the Dublin Airport cap of 32 million passengers a year and, simultaneously, those who would have it upheld , to argue their position. DAA, which runs Dublin and Cork airports, has been fighting to have the curtailment extended by way of a slow-moving planning process. 'I've entrepreneurial spirit in my veins' – Apprentice star Jordan Dargan Listen | 44:45 A separate regional airports programme running from 2026 to 2030 is also under development and is expected later this year. A Department of Transport spokesman said that following the latter's completion and to 'support growth in connectivity and strategic route development to and from the regions, the department will be engaging with the market to consider the potential for the development of an exchequer-funded start-up aid scheme to support new routes'. How this would work in practice is not yet known, but it would likely be a welcome signal of intent from a Government that has also committed to ending the Dublin cap. In her submission to the new Government last January, a copy of which was obtained under Freedom of Information, Ms Considine argued for sustainable growth across all State airports and an approach that 'fully utilises capacity in the regions' and to reduce 'overreliance' on Dublin which accommodates about 86 per cent of traffic. 'Public policy needs to align with where passengers want to go, what economic development, including regional development, requires in future, how decarbonisation is best achieved, and where there is substantial additional capacity now,' Ms Considine wrote. She said an immediately available additional capacity for five million annual passengers between the south (Cork) and west (Shannon) was being 'ignored' even though 40 per cent of passengers wish to travel to the regions. Given an exponential growth in air traffic, she argued, leaning on one airport 'creates a single point of risk that is reckless'. She also raised the threat to national security of cyberattacks and sabotage. 'Prudence and safety require that we avoid almost complete reliance on one State airport for connectivity, with the consequent logistical and reputational issues that would arise were our air traffic to be virtually grounded.' The document suggested the Government consider the London model where Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports alleviate pressure on Heathrow. Flying from Shannon instead of Dublin, it said, results in a 4.6kg reduction on road based CO₂ emissions per passenger.
