Oh, to be an employee of Dublin Port Company

Oh to be an employee of Dublin Port Company (DPC), a State-owned commercial entity.

DPC’s annual report, published earlier this week, shows that its 150 employees were paid on average €90,573 last year in wages and salaries. This was up 10 per cent on the average of €82,386 that they were paid in the previous year.

This in spite of the fact that both its turnover and profits declined last year and there was a 3 per cent drop in port throughput. DPC manages the port facility – all the heavy lifting (literally) is done by private companies on site.

In addition, the staff got another €1.01 million between them in allowances and overtime, an average payment of €6,746. This figure was up from €977,000 a year earlier in spite of the drop in activity.

Add in pensions, social insurance costs and other items and the total bill for staff costs amounted to €16.9 million, up 7.6 per cent on the €15.7 million paid out in the previous year.

Some €86,000 was spent by the State-owned entity on staff hospitality during the year, an average of €7,166 a month or €573 per employee. This item of expenditure was at least down from the €100,000 spent in 2022, an average of €8,333 a month.

Nobody at the company was paid less than €50,000, according to the report, while 56 (or 37 per cent of employees) earned more than €100,000 last year.

The number of staff earning between €50,000 and €74,999 declined to 41 from 60 in 2022, while those in the next bracket (€75,000 to €99,999) increased to 53 last year from 46 a year earlier.

Some €367,000 was also paid out in severance costs to two people, according to the report.

Separately, the company disclosed the details of a High Court settlement in 2023, under which the company was obliged to pay €415,000 to former chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly for “services provided during his term in office from 2010 to 2022″. It also incurred legal costs of €176,000 in relation to the case.

For those interested in pursuing a well-paid career at the company, unfortunately, as per its website, there are no current vacancies.