Ahern misses 85pc of Dail votes since leaving office
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FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has missed 85pc of Dail votes since stepping down as Taoiseach last year, despite receiving a TD's salary of more than €100,000.
And the former Fianna Fail leader was not in attendance for a vote on aspects of last October's controversial Budget as well as a range of other crucial votes, an Irish Independent investigation has revealed.
Mr Ahern had the worst voting record in the Dail when he was Taoiseach, but he was officially excused on the basis that he was busy running the country and in later days attending the Mahon Tribunal.
However, his attendance record of just 28 of 175 votes since stepping down last year raises questions over his constituents' representation.
A spokeswoman for Mr Ahern said last night that it was "custom and practice" that former Taoisigh only had to attend "important" votes and could miss the day-to-day ones. "Former taoisigh are automatically paired," she added.
But Mr Ahern has also missed a number of high-profile votes for the Government over the past year, including votes on October's Budget and on the €440bn bank bailout.
Dismal
As an example of Mr Ahern's dismal attendance record, he did not vote for five months after he tendered his resignation on May 7, until a vote on the controversial medical card proposals on October 22, 2008.
Ironically, Mr Ahern had a reasonable excuse for absence on that occasion after he broke his leg some days before when he fell down stairs. But with a potential Government loss at stake after a number of Fianna Fail backbenchers defied the party whip, Mr Ahern attended and a Fine Gael motion calling for a reversal of the medical card changes was narrowly defeated by 81 to 74 votes.
Since the turn of the year, Mr Ahern's attendance record has improved slightly, to 26pc, and he voted on the nationalisation of Anglo-Irish Bank as well as last month's mini-Budget. However, he failed to attend a vote on the controversial public sector pension levy on February 25 this year.
Business
Mr Ahern's low attendance record follows a vow by Taoiseach Brian Cowen to crack down on TDs missing votes, except when they are abroad on official business. He banned them from making private pairing arrangements with opposition deputies.
The Government recently won a vote to cancel the Christmas payment to social welfare recipients by the narrowest of margins.
With the absence of independent Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry and Kerry South TD Jackie Healy-Rae, they passed the measure by just 70 votes to 67.
Mr Ahern received a ministerial pension of around €111,235 on top of his TD salary of €100,000 last year. And since this was only two-thirds of the going rate due to his resignation last May, he is set for a full pension of €164,000 this year.
However, he pledged to give it back in the wake of the Government's attempts to cut out ministerial pensions for those currently sitting in the Dail.
He is set to come into a sizable amount of money after signing a deal for more than €400,000 for his forthcoming autobiography, which is being ghostwritten by the historian Richard Aldous.
- Stephen O'Farrell and Patricia McDonagh
