BoI boss admits information given to Dáil was wrong

Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher has admitted that information supplied to the Dáil on bank staff bonuses was both misleading and incorrect.

The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, has undertaken an investigation of the additional payments to Bank of Ireland staff since the introduction of the state guarantee scheme in 2008 and has asked its intentions on future bonuses.


Boucher has now accepted that Bank of Ireland was responsible for Lenihan putting ‘‘erroneous information’’ on the Dáil record to the effect that no performance-related bonuses were paid to staff.

Lenihan revealed his investigation in response to a parliamentary question tabled by Labour Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton on bonuses at the banks since the state guarantee.

‘‘The CEO of Bank of Ireland has written to my department acknowledging the difficulties caused as a result of this misinformation, and apologising unreservedly for it," said Lenihan.

He said Bank of Ireland had not taken account of contractual bonuses ‘‘which probing by my department revealed did, in fact, have a performance element’’.

Lenihan said he expected that on completion of the investigation, his department would verify the information supplied by the bank prior to laying it before the House. Burton said it was outrageous that Bank of Ireland should have ‘‘misled the Dáil’’.

‘‘I think that they should now set out their position clearly and the bonus-type payments, inducements, loyalty payments, commissions and remuneration, particularly among higher paid staff," said Burton.

‘‘It would be extraordinary if there were any equivocation on the part of the banks in replying to parliamentary questions on matters of concern to the public," she said.

Bonuses of €44.7 million were paid to staff at financial institutions in 2008-2010 at Allied Irish Banks (AIB), Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS), Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) and Education Building Society (EBS).

Some €20 million was received by Anglo Irish Bank employees in the last few months of 2008.

This information was revealed in a response last December to a separate parliamentary question tabled by Burton. But at that stage Bank of Ireland had not

responded to Lenihan’s request for information when he replied to Burton’s queries.

Lenihan said that the Credit Institutions Act meant that, as minister, he could impose conditions on the provision of state support under certain circumstances.

‘‘In particular, I may impose conditions regarding the payment or nonpayment of performance bonuses, I have already made clear in the AIB case that I will impose such conditions, and I can assure the deputy that I intend to adopt a similar approach to the provision of support to Bank of Ireland."


 Niamh Connolly Political Correspondent - Sunday Business Post