Michael Carey stepped down as chair of the enterprise body and the Housing Agency in June after his company East Coast Bakehouse failed to file its accounts on time.

The Housing Agency argued that their new chief executive, Martin Whelan, should start at €184,852 per year, the fourth and final point on the agreed salary scale.

The Workplace Relations Commission had previously ordered the Housing Agency to pay Auveen Coombes-Lynch €5,000 compensation