asked the Minister for Finance if a person (details supplied) who was recently appointed to the board of the Irish Life Assurance Company, Limited, was recommended by him for the post; if so, the purpose of and reason for such recommendation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Life Assurance Company.
20.
The person in question was recommended by me for this appointment. My aim in making appointments to the boards of State-sponsored bodies, is to choose people who will bring useful experience and ability to the boards. I am satisfied that this appointment is consistent with this aim.
Is the Minister happy with the appointment, considering the age of the person appointed? Does he not think a younger man with business experience might not, perhaps, have been a wiser appointment?
In view of the fact that I recommended this appointment the Deputy may take it that I am happy with it. This is not to say that I would be happy in all cases with people of the age of this person but as the Deputy knows the man concerned is a unique man and if the Deputy and myself are as active mentally and physically at his age as he is, I think we would both be very happy.
I do know how active mentally and physically the former Deputy MacEntee is but may I suggest other candidates who might be considered, for instance, Mr. Gerry Boland, who is just as active mentally and physically and a good 1916 man or, perhaps, if you really wanted to go to town, his son, ex-Deputy Kevin Poland.
I did not receive any representations on behalf of either of these gentlemen but if the Deputy wishes to make such representations I shall bear them in mind.
Further arising——
The Deputy may not rise to put supplementary after supplementary.
I want a word of explanation on this. When the Minister says he "recommended" this appointment, does he mean he nominated this man?
No, recommended.
Recommended to whom?
To the shareholders, I think. The word "recommended" is the correct word in the legal sense of the constitution of Irish life.
It is not correct.
May I finish? If the Deputy is trying to make a particular point I shall concede it to him straight away, that whether it was a recommendation or a nomination, the decision was mine, if that is what he is trying to prove.
(Interruptions.)
21.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in respect of the Irish Life Assurance Company, Limited the total annual remuneration of (a) the directors, (b) the managing director and (c) the chairman.
The fees paid to the directors of the Irish Life Assurance Company, Limited are £800 in the case of the chairman and £500 in the case of the other directors. I am not responsible for the remuneration of the managing director, except for his fee as a director.
22.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in respect of the directors, managing director and chairman of the Irish Life Assurance Company, Limited their annual remuneration in respect of directors' fees from (a) subsidiaries of the Irish Life Assurance Company, Limited, (b) companies in which the Irish Life Assurance Company, Limited has a financial interest and (c) other companies or boards in which the Minister for Finance holds shares.
No fees are received by the directors, managing director or chairman of Irish Life in respect of their directorships of the company's subsidiaries. I have no information in relation to the companies in which Irish Life has a financial interest. Among the State-sponsored bodies in which I hold shares, the chairman of Irish Life is also chairman and executive director of Irish Steel Holdings, Limited, for which he receives a remuneration of £4,390.