Angela Kerins, chief executive at the charity Rehab, receives a remuneration package worth $370,000 a year according to a statement finally issued by the body on Monday evening.

Her salary is $70,000 more than the Prime Minister’s and $130,000 more than the next highest paid charity sector CEO.

After weeks of public outcry at Kerins’ refusal to outline her earnings, the charity went public after a board meeting at its Sandymount facility in Dublin.

Currently involved in a legal dispute with the Irish government over funding, Rehab defended the wages paid to Kerins whose basic salary is just shy of $330,000 a year.

In a statement issued by the charity, Rehab chairman Brian Kerr said: “We share a common desire to make quality and relevant services available to people who need them and we are conscious of recent calls for the salary of the chief executive to be published again.

“The board was reluctant to publish these details previously for three main reasons.
“Firstly Rehab continuously competes for business at home and abroad with a range of private companies which do not have to disclose such information.

“Secondly, we wanted to receive up to date advice from our legal and remuneration advisors and thirdly we are also acutely conscious of our duty to all of our employees under privacy law and the Data Protection Acts 1998 and 2003.

“Our chief executive Mrs Kerins has waived her rights to confidentiality and encouraged the publication of this information.”

The Irish Independent reports that the statement said Mrs Kerins’ salary is currently €240,000 ($328,000) per annum. It also said she had voluntarily waived all bonus entitlements for the last four years.

Kerins also enjoys a defined contribution pension scheme with Rehab contributing 6 per cent of salary to this scheme but she does not receive additional fees for sitting on various subsidiary boards.
The charity confirmed she has the use of a company car for which she pays ‘benefit in kind’ tax but is not in receipt of private health insurance as part of her package.

The statement said: “The rate of pay for the Rehab Group chief executive is significantly below the market median.”

Rehab has also told the Irish Times that it will declare the ‘total remuneration’ of other top managers in its 2015 accounts, which won’t be published until 2016.

But an Irish government watchdog is to press for the information more speedily.

Public Accounts Committee chairman John McGuinness, a Fianna Fáil deputy, told the Irish Times: “That’s something we would want as part of our hearing, the extent of the salaries. 2016 is too late for us. We’ll be looking for this in the next few weeks.”

Rehab received more than $112million in State payments from the Irish government last year and is in conflict with Minister for Justice Alan Shatter over the Government’s decision to scrap a public support scheme for charity lotteries.