'Nonsense' to report my full earnings, says ICMSA president John Comer
By David Raleigh
The president of the ICMSA, which represents dairy farmers, has said he is not prepared to divulge his full earnings or claimed expenses, and said to do so would be "nonsense".
John Comer would only give "ball park figures" and that he gets an "allowance" of up to €50,000 excluding expenses.
Mr Comer said he will not receive any pension entitlements when his term as ICMSA president ends.
He said he receives a €50,000 annual allowance "for replacement labour on my farm at home, when I am representing ICMSA, which is a full-time job."
"My allowance is less than €50,000 and I refuse to give the pounds, shillings and pence, because I think that's a step too far," he said. "Individuals have a right to some degree of privacy."
Mr Comer added: "While other organisations have been on the upper scale of perhaps grotesque figures, that wasn't the case in ICMSA, and I don't believe that we need to over-correct."
The ICMSA president, who got the full backing of members at the union's annual conference in Limerick today, said he had been given "a mandate and a vote of confidence" by ICMSA members in "the way the we do business".
"I don't think we should waste any more time on it," he said.
He said the ICMSA general secretary John Enright was on a salary of less than €100,000.
According to their annual financial statement, last year the ICMSA spent €577,520 on wages and salaries, social welfare costs, and pension costs, for its 11 staff members working out of Limerick.
"We have an office in Limerick that employs 11 staff and if each individual salary was out there, I think that would be counter-productive," Mr Comer said.
"We have said that our general secretary (John Enright) is working for a five-figure sum, that means he is on less than €100,000."
He said ICMSA members are "happy with that" and that, "as president and chairman of the board, I will stand over that".
Mr Comer said he was "happy to answer any questions about salaries" but, he added, "I am not prepared to say to the pounds, shillings and pence."
He said: "I have teenage daughters that are at a sensitive age in school and I don't want their friends in school coming up to them saying, 'your dad is getting bla bla bla' and have it counted down to the last cent."
"I don't think there is any need for that - it's a load of nonsense in my view, that you need to get to that level of detail...I'm not going to empty my pockets out on the table for anybody."
"Our members endorsed that," he added.
