The minister responsible for the deposit return scheme has admitted that he doesn’t know how much the CEO of the company set up to operate the scheme is getting paid. Deposit Return Scheme Ireland Limited, trading as Re-turn, retains unclaimed deposits on bottles and cans, and also generates revenue from the sale of plastic and aluminium collected through the scheme. In May, it refused to reveal details of the salaries being paid to its top executives.
And now the minister in charge of the scheme has said even he doesn’t know how much its CEO Ciaran Foley is getting paid. “I would imagine he is on a very good salary,” Ossian Smyth said in an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror. “I’d say he earns more than me.
” READ MORE: Disability advocate pursuing discrimination case against Re-turn over 'inaccessible' recycling scheme READ MORE: Re-turn refuses to reveal details of salaries funded by consumer deposits on bottles and cans The Green Party TD is paid more than €150,000 per annum in his role as a minister of state at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. “The turnover of the [deposit return scheme] could be €350 million a year. The interest is to get the scheme to run efficiently, as cheaply as possible,” he added.
The controversial Re-turn scheme was introduced on February 1 and has been beset by operational problems, floods of complaints, and criticism over a perceived lack .
