€53,000 payoff for axed junior ministers
JUNIOR ministers sacked by Taoiseach Brian Cowen tomorrow will receive "golden parachute" payments of up to €53,000 each.
The axed ministers will get severance payments for two years to compensate them for loss of earnings as their salary drops back to that of a backbench TD.
The Department of Finance has confirmed the payments will be made when Mr Cowen reduces the number of junior ministers from 20 to 15. If he decides to sack more than five junior ministers, these ministers will also get severance payments. They will be paid under the terms of legislation introduced in 1992.
It comes as Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday declined to say whether he would limit his cuts to five.
Michael Ahern and John Browne were dropped from the junior ministerial ranks last year when Mr Cowen took over in May from former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Government chief whip Tom Kitt quit due to the lack of a promotion offer. They received €26,000 each last year in severance payments and are due to receive another €27,000 this year.
Fine Gael Meath West TD Damien English said the severance payments could not be defended in the current economic climate. "I don't see why you should get it because you're still a TD, you're still in employment," he said.
According to information supplied by the Department of Finance:
- Junior Ministers are paid €54,000 in addition to the basic TD's salary of €100,000. They are entitled to severance packages on a sliding scale based on their length of service;
- Those who are sacked will get 75pc of their previous monthly salary for their first six months on the backbenchs, which equals around €20,000;
- They will then get 50pc of the monthly salary for the next 12 months (€27,000) and 25pc of the monthly salary for the next six months (€6,750). The severance payments are lower for those with less than two years' service as a Junior Minister.
Cynicism
The Labour Party has also criticised the severance payments as a "pay-off that's being dressed up as redundancy" and for increasing the level of cynicism about politics among the public.
Earlier this month, Mr Cowen hauled in his junior ministers to a surprise meeting where he ordered them to resign. Their letters of resignation become effective today and they must wait until tomorrow to learn who is being axed.
Those thought to be safe include government chief whip Pat Carey, Junior Minister for Children Barry Andrews and Junior Minister for Europe Dick Roche.
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
