One of the largest providers of social housing in the State, Clúid has granted cumulative pay increases of 27.5% to the role of chief executive over the past two years to €197,760 today.
Former Fianna Fáil senator and former CEO of the Irish Cancer Society, Ms Averil Power took up the role of CEO at Clúid in November 2025 and Clúid’s 2025 annual report reveals that pay to the role of CEO increased by 20% in 2025 as a result of an external benchmarking exercise.
At the start of 2025, the post of Clúid CEO attracted a salary of €155,000 and that has increased to €197,760 today – a rise of €42,760 since January 2025.
Explaining the background to the sharp pay increase for the role of CEO at the approved housing body, a Clúid spokeswoman said today that independent external benchmarking in 2024 found that CEO and Chief-level remuneration at Clúid “was significantly below relevant market benchmarks”.
She said that a once-off realignment was therefore approved, increasing the CEO salary by 20% and Chief-level salaries by between 11.5% and 22%, depending on their previous salary level.
Ms Power’s pay has increased to €197,760 as the role of CEO also received the same 3% general salary increases as other Clúid staff in 2025 and 2026.
The Clúid spokeswoman said that “Clúid provides over 15,000 homes to more than 38,000 residents, employs 390 people and manages assets of over €3.5 billion.
The spokeswoman pointed out that “managing an organisation of this scale and complexity requires a strong and experienced senior leadership team. To attract and retain the people we need, our salaries must be competitive with comparable organisations.”
In the year under review, social and cost rental residents moved Clúid’s biggest cost rental scheme at the time – a 328-unit residential development in Tallaght, Co Dublin which Clúid purchased for almost €160 million.
The annual report shows that Clúid last year increased its operating surplus by 23% to €90.79m and interest costs of €59.8m reduced the surplus to €30.96m.
Revenues also rose by 23% from €153.59m to €188.9m.
The surplus for 2025 takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €48.19m.
The spokeswoman said: “2025 was another strong year for Clúid. We delivered 1,391 new social and affordable rental homes across 11 counties and helped 4,620 people out of housing need.
She said: “It was our fourth consecutive year delivering more than 1,000 new homes.”
She said: “In 2026, we have continued to grow our impact. We have already delivered over 800 new homes and are on track to exceed our target of 1,164 new homes by the end of the year.”
Numbers employed at Clúid last year increased from 340 to 367 as staff costs rose from €22.3m to €26.1m.
The re-alignment in pay for senior management at Clúid last year resulted in the numbers earning over €140,000 rising from two to seven.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
