Darragh O'Brien secures €50,000 rise for new Bus Éireann CEO
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien signed off on a €70,000 salary rise for the new CEO of Bus Éireann, despite a review advising it could stay the same, writes Craig Hughes.
BusinessPlus.ie can reveal a salary of €280,000 was sanctioned by Mr O’Brien to promote Jean O’Sullivan, who’d served as the company’s chief people officer since 2022, to the role of CEO on October 8.
However, the Department for Public Expenditure, which is required to sign off on semi-state CEOs’ salaries, refused to sanction the €70,000 pay hike and instead approved a €50,000 increase.
BusinessPlus.ie understands that after “engagement” with officials in both departments, the salary, including increase, was reduced to €260,000.
The outgoing CEO, Stephen Kent, earned a salary of €210,000 plus entitlements.
Internal documents from the Department of Transport show Mr O’Brien was advised to allow a salary of between the existing €210,000 and a redacted amount.
However, Bus Éireann was seeking a base salary of €280,000 – a 33% increase.
The rise to €280,000 was not the maximum point on the pay scale, which the department has refused to release, as it allowed for further salary increases within the band in the coming years.
“The Department supports €280,000 in year one and recommends scope for progression to €[redacted] to allow the Board to consider the option of increases in years two and three, in keeping with SPRC recommendation,” the briefing note says.
The documents show the seven-year contract includes the use of an e-car, access to a pension plan, and a healthcare package – which she contributes to – that includes access to a GP for herself, partner and dependent children up to age 16.
Bus Éireann chair Miriam Hughes wrote to the department on August 21 saying the company had identified its preferred candidate through an open recruitment process, and pressed it for an early decision on its business case.
The correspondence shows Ms Hughes formally requested approval for the €280,000 salary, delivered a supporting business case, and sought “clarity and approval… as soon as possible”.
To put this figure in context, Minister O’Brien earns a basic salary of €117,113 plus an additional allowance of €95,745, according to Oireachtas.ie.
The Taoiseach earns a basic salary of €117,113 plus €134,148 in allowances.
The business case warned the €210,000 salary was not competitive and left the company struggling to recruit and retain senior leaders.
Bus Éireann said the level of pay permitted under the Senior Posts Remuneration Committee (SPRC) framework did not reflect the scale of the role, which includes responsibility for major transformation projects, fleet electrification, a doubling of passenger numbers, and a shift to zero emissions by 2050.
In its business case, it sought approval for a seven-year contract and a €280,000 base salary, with rises in years two and three based on performance.
It described the €280,000 figure as consistent with its own benchmarking exercise, carried out by Mercer, and broadly in line with what it believed to be the upper end of the band recommended by the department following the SPRC review.
In the department’s note to Minister O’Brien, officials said the salary requested “is within the band allowed under the recent SPRC review”, though the same note also confirms the SPRC set the minimum end of the range at €210,000.
The department recommended the minister approve the €280,000 salary and give the Bus Éireann board discretion to consider further rises in years two and three.
Bus Éireann’s business case set out a wide-ranging set of responsibilities spanning operational performance, regulatory compliance, stakeholder management and corporate governance.
The company emphasises the CEO’s obligation to navigate “complex regulatory landscapes” and to build and manage “strategic relationships with Government agencies, transport authorities, employees and customers”.
The key performance indicators (KPIs) that will govern annual assessments for progression within the pay band are referenced in the department’s briefing and Bus Éireann’s business case.
The department confirms the CEO’s progression will be tied to “performance in relation to KPIs for years 2 and 3”, with evaluations by the board’s Remuneration Committee.
The business case also says KPIs will be measured against metrics linked to transformation delivery, financial performance, customer outcomes and sustainability targets.
A department spokesman said the approved pay was “within the band for this position” as set out by the SPRC, and that bands are “confidential”.
Labour finance spokesman Ged Nash said: “I have no issue with improved remuneration packages for CEOs of what are complex commercial State enterprises, and the SPRC did a good job developing a new and robust framework for such roles.
CEO of Bus Éireann Jean O’Sullivan
“There are obvious political questions to be asked over how this package was hammered out, and there also seems to be a conflict with the spirit of the new SPRC framework and what it was designed to achieve.”
He said it showed some ministers think they can “over-ride the rules” when it came to salary agreements.
“Questions need to be answered about this affair. It calls into question the Government’s commitment to a new system that is, in my view, a fair and transparent one,” he said.
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