Irish Water: Extra payments are performance-related awards, not bonuses
The Government is being urged to block the payment of bonuses at Irish Water.
Fianna Fáil wants the State to tell the new utility company it is not allowed fork out more money to staff.
It was revealed yesterday that employees could earn bonuses of up to 19%.
However, Irish Water maintains it does not have a bonus scheme, instead it claims it has a performance-related awards scheme.
Staff will be subject to a review next year and depending on their performance they may or may not be entitled to an award.
However Fianna Fáil's Environment Spokesperson Barry Cowen, says it is just semantics.
He said: "I just think it is creative English for the purpose of trying to deflect the from the obvious. We have been saying this since Irish Water has been set up, that it should have similar pay conditions to that in what was Bord Gais.
"It is quite obvious that this was sanctioned by Government, sanctioned by the department and if Government really mean what they say then they need to instruct Irish Water not to pay bonuses."
