Moves to reduce the salary of Amnesty International executive director Colm O'Gorman were heavily defeated today with a motion on the issue at the organisation's annual conference only managing to attract the support of the two individuals who tabled it.
During a conference schedule busy with more routine business - prevention of torture, women’s reproductive rights and conditions for illegal immigrants among them - a total of 83 people were registered to vote on remuneration to Mr O’Gorman, the organisation’s Irish chief.
Just two votes were cast in favour of the proposal, which had called on his salary to be reduced from €99,089 to the average level of those working for Amnesty.
Reacting to his obvious and widespread support, Mr O’Gorman told The Irish Times that his pay and conditions were set out by elected representatives in a purely transparent and accountable fashion.
“I am actually very proud to work for an organisation that is democratic and where people can put forward their ideas no matter how radical they are,” he said.
“The salary is set by the board of the organisation - and in Amnesty these decision makers are elected by the membership.”
Mr O’Gorman added that transparency around pay and conditions for senior staff had been a hallmark of the organisation for some time, with details published on its website.
The motion to reduce his salary was tabled by Kieran O’Sullivan and seconded by Martin O’Sullivan, both of whom declared themselves members of People Before Profit.
Speaking afterwards, Kieran O’Sullivan said he was not surprised his motion was defeated and that there seemed to exist a general “ideology” that certain people should receive higher salaries.
“[I am] a little disappointed but not entirely surprised. People seem to think that I was attacking Colm O’Gorman, which I wasn’t,” he said.
“That wasn’t the intention of the motion, which was just to point out a genuinely held belief on my part.”
Meanwhile, today's conference was also due to debate several other issues including the plight of immigrants attempting to enter Europe in boats across the Mediterranean; the start of a two-year Amnesty campaign against torture; the issue of violence against woman, and sexual reproductive rights.
