AT least 14 of the country's top charity bosses are earning salaries of over €100,000.
The figures emerged from a financial survey of 40 of the country's leading charities by the Irish Independent.
With donations falling and services being cut due to funding constraints, executive salaries remain under the microscope.
The
highest-paid executive from the charitable organisations examined by
the Irish Independent was Rehab Group's Angela Kerins, whose most recent
disclosed salary was €234,000, funded from commercial earnings rather
than public funds.
Other well-paid charity bosses were Fionnuala O'Donovan of Enable Ireland on €145,679, a decrease of over €10,000 on last year, and John McCormack of the Irish Cancer Society on €145,000.
But
our survey found that in the majority of cases, Irish charity bosses
have fared poorly in the pay stakes compared to their counterparts in
the UK, many of whom have suffered criticism in recent months over pay
hikes.
In contrast, only four of the charity bosses surveyed got salary
hikes in Ireland and for the most part pay packages either remained
static or have fallen in recent years.
Staff in most organisations have also suffered pay cuts, reduced conditions or changes to their pensions.
The largest cut came for Concern boss Dominic McSorley, whose €99,000 is €33,000 less than the figure earned by previous CEO Tom Arnold in 2012.
Cope Foundation chief executive Colette Kelleher took a pay cut of €8,400 this year, bringing her salary down from €130,000 to €121,600.
Amnesty International's Colm O'Gorman took a €9,200 pay cut this year, bringing his salary down to €110,099.
Former junior minister Barry Andrews, who took over as chief executive of GOAL from John O'Shea, came in on a lower salary of €95,000 compared to Mr O'Shea's €98,300 in 2012.
Several charities said they had cut staff pay in recent years.
These
included Age Action (5pc across the board), Barrettstown (3-5pc),
Bothar (10pc), Concern (5-10pc), the Cope Foundation and Enable Ireland
(cuts linked to public sector), Inclusion Ireland (5-10pc), Irish
Guidedogs for the Blind (5pc), the ISPCC (5pc), the Marie Keating Foundation (5-10pc), National Council for the Blind (7pc), Oxfam (up to 10pc) and Trocaire (up to 10pc).
Several other charities have put pay freezes in place.
Bucking the pay trend was Ray Jordan of Self Help Africa,
whose salary jumped from €99,220 in 2012 to €112,750 this year.
A spokesman said Mr Jordan had taken a voluntary pay cut of 12pc in 2009.
The charity's board decided this year to reverse the pay cut and bring its CEO's salary up to its level when he first joined in 2007.
A spokesman said Mr Jordan had taken a voluntary pay cut of 12pc in 2009.
The charity's board decided this year to reverse the pay cut and bring its CEO's salary up to its level when he first joined in 2007.
MODEST
Three other charity bosses also had modest rises.
Alcohol
Action's chief executive Suzanne Costello entered the job this year on
€80,000, which was €1,000 more than previous chief Fiona Ryan.
Christian
Aid's recently appointed new chief executive Rosamund Bennett came in
on a salary of Stg£53,177 (€63,000), an increase on the Stg£52,134
(€61,760) earned by the previous CEO Margaret Boden in 2012.
And Jane-Ann McKenna's salary at Medecins Sans Frontieres jumped from €59,000 in 2012 to €62,105 this year.