Carlow IFA chairman Derek Deane spoke on RTE’s Drivetime radio programme on Wednesday, repeating in public the assertions he made in letters and at internal meetings in recent days regarding the remuneration of IFA general secretary Pat Smith.

Asked to confirm his previous statements that Smith was paid in the region of €400,000 per year, Deane said: “In fact, the number is quite substantially higher. I learned to my horror in the last couple of days – it’s in excess of €450,000 for 2013. I think this is totally unacceptable at grassroot level in the association and that’s why I felt it so important to make a statement on it.”

Deane argued that the salary of the IFA’s general secretary was traditionally linked to that of his counterpart in the Department of Agriculture, but a gap emerged when salaries of top civil servants were cut by “30% to 40%” between 2008 and 2009.

“From an association point of view, farmers need to know and members need to know on the ground where their money is spent,” he said. “They are paying their dues to the association, they expect a good service and I think we have to be totally transparent because, at the end of the day, I’m only interested in using a service that is transparent and I can see value for money.”

The IFA established a new remuneration committee to set pay levels for its general secretary and president earlier this month. In a letter to the organisation’s executive council this week, IFA president Eddie Downey called on the remuneration committee to “immediately get down to work” and report back to next month’s executive council meeting.