http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5thZuNdB8U

YouTube: Hugh O’Connell

BANK OF IRELAND chief executive Richie Boucher got into a testy exchange with the Labour TD Arthur Spring over his salary at the Oireachtas Finance Committee today.

Boucher has a pay packet of €843,000 much to the annoyance of Spring and Labour backbenchers who have previously called for the government to use its 15 per cent share in BOI and intervene.

The government has in place a €500,000 salary cap for bank employees but Boucher’s contract was agreed when he was appointed chief executive in 2009.

Bank of Ireland’s annual report for last year revealed that Boucher could actually have received a total pay packet of €910,000 – but he had waived €67,000 of his salary.

Asked repeatedly if he would acknowledge that his salary is in breach of the cap, Boucher did not answer the question directly.

“I’m aware of a cap that the government applies…. I am not in breach of my contract which has been accepted by the government,” he said. (Watch the full exchange with Spring in the video above)

Boucher also faced questions over his pension and shares he owns in Bank of Ireland. He acknowledged he is a shareholder in the bank and that the share price has gone up 150 per cent in the last 12 months.

“I own the shares as a private individual, I bought the shares as a private individual,” he said.

‘It’s like being in a maze’: FG TD tells BOI chief he is not facilitating committee

Read: Bank of Ireland has addressed 53 per cent of defaulting mortgages