Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Local councillor criticises £50K bonus for quango chief

Published: 11 August, 2009

Sinn Féin councillor Colman Burns has criticised a £46,000 bonus paid to head of the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) David Gavaghan

The Slieve Gullion councillor said,

"SIB's latest accounts reveal that their Chief Executive, David Gavaghan received a bonus of £46,000 last year. This is on top of his huge £164,000 salary."

"Mr. Gavaghan is already the highest paid civil servant in the Six counties, and earns more than the British Prime Minister. In the current economic crisis many people will struggle to see how a bonus of almost £50,000 could be justified. What exactly warrants such a reward?

"In the current economic situation families across the North are struggling to survive. Low-paid civil servants have still not received the backpay to which they are entitled. Public sector workers such as nurses and teachers are facing an uncertain future. Even at the top-end of the Civil Service, bonuses have been scrapped this year.

"When you consider the public anger that was rightly directed at the bonus culture within the banking system which caused the economic crisis, it is unfortunate that we are still witnessing these huge bonuses.

Cllr Burns concluded by stating that scrapping bonuses for all top-earners within the North's public sector should be scrapped and redirecting into protecting front -line services and low-paid workers."

Note to Editors

-SIB is an Executive owned body tasked with three main roles:

- to prepare and oversee the Investment Strategy (ISNI), the Executive's 10-year plan for infrastructure investment across the region, and advise Ministers on effective implementation;

- to support the procurement and delivery of major projects and programmes at the request of sponsoring departments in order to help accelerate delivery timetables and obtain better value for the taxpayer; and

- to foster reform in systems and processes across the public sector through investment in better infrastructure.