Energy Minister Darragh O'Brien has defended his decision to approve a pay package for ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes that could see his salary rise to €480,000 by June 2028, calling him an "exceptional person" who runs an "exceptional organisation". The defence comes after the Irish Daily Mail revealed the scale of the pay deal, which had not been made public beforehand, at a time when more than 320,000 Irish households are in arrears on their electricity bills and the country has the highest electricity costs in the EU.

Mr Hayes's salary rose from €318,083 to €410,000 in July, and documents show it is set to climb further to €445,000 next year and €480,000 in 2028 if performance targets, still to be defined by the ESB board, are met — an overall increase of almost 51%. O'Brien said the rises reflect Hayes's role overseeing a planned €18.9billion grid investment (Price Review 6) and insisted the process was not secret, while acknowledging pressure on households and pointing to forthcoming budget measures on energy costs. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín branded the deal "outrageous" and "sickening", and the news follows ESB reporting €377million in profits for the first half of 2026, up 20% year-on-year, with Hayes's rise among more than 20 similar pay increases for semi-State chief executives since pay caps were eased.