asked the Minister for Lands if he will state the present salary payable to the directors of An Bord Iascaigh Mhara; and if any increase has recently been sanctioned by him.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Salaries of Directors of An Bord Iascaigh Mhara.
The present annual fees payable to the members of An Bord Iascaigh Mhara, who have been appointed for a period of two years from 24th April, 1958, are £331 to the chairman and £300 to each of the ordinary members.
The annual fees payable before 24th April, 1958, were £331 to the chairman and £200 to each of the ordinary members.
And what made the Minister raise the fee by £100 when the has restored his own group on the board?
It was quite obvious that in preparing the fees paid for directorships of this kind An Bord Iascaigh Mhara had fallen behind, so to speak, particularly in regard to the fact that the turnover of this State company consists of the £530,000 a year for fish and the hire purchasing scheme now involves sums totalling over £400,000 a year and the marketing of fish, as the Deputy should well know, is a most complex problem. All I was doing was placing the fees in line with those paid to persons in similar positions in other companies.
Is there head or tail to a Government which exhorts the whole population to exercise restraint in wage demands, salary demands and price demands, which then appoints a new board to this body, which is doing exactly the same work as its predecessors were doing six months ago, and increases the fees by 50 per cent? There does not seem to me to be any sense or meaning in that. Is that consonant with the policy of the Government or is this an exceptional case, an exceptional departure from the general policy of the Government as adumbrated by Ministers time and again? Is there any reply to that question?
That was not a question.
I did not ask the Minister for Health.