Dublin Port Company pays €415k unpaid bonuses to ex-CEO

The Dublin Port Company last year paid out €415,000 in unpaid bonuses to former long serving CEO, Eamonn O’Reilly as part of a High Court settlement.

The payout to Mr O’Reilly- along with additional legal costs of €176,000 – is disclosed in Dublin Port Company’s 2023 annual report which shows that pre-tax profits at the company decreased by 28% to €35m.

This followed revenues remaining flat at €101.4m.

Mr O’Reilly issued High Court proceedings in February 2023 against Dublin Port Company and this followed a High Court ruling in September 2022 that CEO of Shannon Foynes Port Company, Pat Keating be paid €373,339 in unpaid bonuses and interest from 2010 to 2017.

In response to the court action taken by Mr Keating against his employer, Shannon Foynes Port Company, Mr Justice Mark Sanfrey ruled that a failure by the port company directors to use their discretion to pay the bonus “constitutes a breach by the company of the contract which has caused damage and loss to Mr Keating”.

The ruling left the way open for Mr O’Reilly to lodge his action against his former employer and Mr O’Reilly was employed as CEO from 2010 to thee end of August 2022.

A note attached to the Dublin Port Company 2023 accounts states that “based on a High Court settlement agreement reached in 2023, the Company was obliged to make certain performance related payments in the amount of €415K to a past Chief Executive for services provided during his term in office from 2010 to 2022”.

The note states that the settlement is inclusive of employer’s PRSI.

The note confirms the legal costs of €176,000 resulting in an overall cost of €626,000 from the ex-chief executive’s court action.

Court records shows that a ‘notice of discontinuance’ was issued in the case last July. Limerick law firm, Dundon Callanan Solicitors represented both Mr O’Reilly and Mr Keating in their respective cases.

The annual report separately discloses that €367,000 was paid out by Dublin Port Company to two staff in severance payments last year.

The annual report also confirms that the company’s hospitality expenditure bill last year increased from €142,000 to €144,000 comprising of €86,000 on staff hospitality and €58,000 on client hospitality.

In his report, company chairperson, Jerry Grant said that following a strong year in 2022, Dublin Port in 2023 totalled 35.6m tonnes representing a decrease of 1.1m tonnes or 3% on the previous year “closely mirroring the performance of the overall economy”.

Mr Grant said that EBITDA totalled €56.7m which was a €2.6m decrease on 2022.

Numbers employed remained at 150 as staff costs increased to €16.48m.

In his report, CEO Barry O’Connell said on the outlook for 2024 that “we have taken a reasonably conservative view and budgeted for an overall growth rate of 2.4%”.

He said that the port company’s ability to fund the significant capital investment required to deliver on Masterplan 2040 will start to come into focus.

“This will necessitate us revisiting our 2022-26 Pricing Policy, following a sustained period of inflation, impacting both operating costs and construction costs.”

He added that the importance of returning at least half of the 14.6 hectares of Port lands given over to facilitate the border inspection operations of Customs and the Department of Agriculture cannot be overstated as we face into capacity pinch points in the near future.

At the end of December last, accumulated profits totalled €586.98m. Cash funds amounted to €199.5m.

Reporting by Gordon Deegan