from the Irish Independent website for info:
McCreevy gets green light for top Ryanair job
Wednesday May 05 2010
FORMER EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy can take up a key post in Ryanair after the European Commission cleared the way for him.
It said it would allow the former finance minister to accept the job as a non-executive director on the board of the airline.
The Commission said Mr McCreevy could take the post so long as he does not offer the company "advice on any case involving Ryanair handled by the Commission when he was a commissioner".
The EU executive has the power to probe any job prospects for former top brass if they come up in the year after a commissioner leaves office.
Mr McCreevy retired from his post as internal market chief in February.
While he was not responsible for cases involving Ryanair during his five years in Brussels, he could have been privy to information passed on by his colleagues during staff meetings.
Commissioners are obliged to take an oath that during and after they leave office they will behave with "integrity and discretion". The spokesman said he had "every confidence" Mr McCreevy would do so.
If Mr McCreevy takes up the post he could be docked part of his three-year transitional allowance from the Commission, equivalent to 55pc of his former salary, or around €133,000 per year. This will only happen if he earns above the €243,338 he was paid as a commissioner.
As a non-executive director with Ryanair, Charlie McCreevy won't make a fortune.
Ryanair's current slate of seven non-executive directors, including its US-based chairman, billionaire David Bonderman, are entitled to receive €32,000 per annum, but they also receive expenses -- typically those associated with performing their duties, including travelling to attend board meetings.
They also receive additional payments for being members of internal committees -- the audit and remuneration committees are common examples, where members review executive pay and validate accounts.
Influence
Ryanair considers all of its non-executive directors to be independent, in that "no one individual or grouping exerts an undue influence on others".
While non-executive directors also receive share options, the net amount realisable from an eventual exercising of those options often isn't significant.
For example, one Ryanair non-executive director, Klaus Kirchberger, exercised options on 50,000 of the airline's shares on June 18 last year.
To exercise the option on each of those shares cost Mr Kirchberger €141,500, while he would have sold them for about €163,000 for a net pre-tax gain of just €21,500.
- Sarah Collins and John Mulligan