Best-paid Irish CEO during 2007
Saturday February 21 2009
DAVID Drumm was the highest-paid chief executive in Ireland during 2007.
His €4.65m package beat by a country mile the controversial €4m received by outgoing Bank of Ireland boss Brian Goggin between 2006 and 2007.
It also made Mr Drumm the best-paid chief executive of any Irish bank, or indeed any other public company in Ireland during 2007.
Anglo's accounts, published yesterday, also reveal that Mr Drumm, who lives in a plush house on Dublin's northside and counts Boyzone singer Ronan Keating among his neighbours, received nearly €1m in taxable pension payments in 2008 on top of his €1.15m basic salary. That pension top-up came in addition to more than €1.6m in pension payments he received in 2007.
In its 2007 annual report, Anglo Irish Bank had stated that Mr Drumm had received a pension benefit of €274,000. In yesterday's accounts, it revealed that he subsequently elected to receive a total taxable cash allowance of €1.65m for pension benefits forgone.
The Irish Independent recently revealed that Mr Drumm had received the nearly €1m pension top-up last year, but sources had insisted he did not receive a golden handshake as he stepped down from the bank's board.
The Government reined in excessive pension pools among Ireland's elite two years ago by introducing a €5m cap on funds. But since then, most top executives sitting on pension funds above this level have received cash equivalents as part of their pay.
Mr Drumm joined Anglo Irish Bank in 1993 and was appointed chief executive in 2005.
- John Mulligan
