Fury at Bertie’s €68,000 goodbye package
Tuesday September 30 2008
FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has received a ‘golden parachute’ package which is nearly twice the average annual industrial wage.
Since stepping down last May, he has got severance pay worth €68,000 while he continues as a backbench Fianna Fail TD, it emerged yesterday.
And it was also revealed that two sacked junior ministers are only €29-a-week worse off due to the severance package put in place for them.
Under legislation introduced in 1992, ex-ministers get severance payments for two years and are then entitled to a pension equal to 50pc of their ministerial salary if they are aged 50 or over.
The Opposition attacked the size of the severance package for Mr Ahern given the fact that he had resigned due to the controversy over his personal finances.
Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan said it was “incredible” that such a sum was paid.
“The manner of the Taoiseach's resignation would lead us to believe that he wasn't entitled to a bonus, or performance- related pay,” he said.
Although Mr Ahern’s salary dropped from €185,000 to €100,000 when he stepped down as Taoiseach, his €68,000 severance package up to the end of November is nearly double the average industrial wage of €34,000.
Mr Ahern will also be entitled to a total pension of €207,584 on retirement. Mr Hogan added, however, that because the former Taoiseach's salary was the largest in Europe, it was not surprising Mr Ahern's severance pay would also be very substantial.
A spokesman for Mr Ahern said he would not be making any comment on the severance pay issue
Meanwhile, Michael Ahern and John Browne were dropped from the junior ministerial ranks when Taoiseach Brian Cowen took over in May, but both are entitled to severance packages of around €53,000 each over the next 24 months.
The payments are taxable at the 42pc rate. Both TDs are now earning salaries which are just below their wages as junior ministers, due to the severance package, their appointment as committee chairs and their long-service payment.
Mr Browne, who represents the Wexford constituency, said he was getting no more and no less than he was entitled to under the legislation.
“It’s there, there’s nothing secret about it.
“If Brian Lenihan decides to withdraw it in the Budget, which would affect my October payment, I’ve no big deal about that,” he said.
Fianna Fail Donegal South- West TD Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher, who was also dropped from the junior ministerial ranks in May, did not receive a severance package.
He said this was because he had not qualified for it due to his service in the Dail before the 1992 severance pay legislation was introduced.
“It possibly reflects itself in my (ministerial) pension but I'm not sure,” he said.
Labour TD Ciaran Lynch said the revelations would do nothing to enhance the image of politics.
Cynicism
“This is a pay-off that's being dressed up as redundancy. This just leads to further scepticism and cynicism about politics among the public,” he said.
Sinn Fein economic spokesperson Arthur Morgan said the payments were yet another slap in the face to workers across the State who were being told to tighten their belts.
“Coming on the back of the recent salary increases for Government ministers, this news will be even tougher for the public to digest,” he said.
It follows the revelation that €3m was given out in severance payments last year to former Oireachtas members who failed to get re-elected at the last general election.
More than 54 former TDs and senators were entitled to the termination payments, including lump sums and monthly wages, after retiring or being rejected by voters.
Fianna Fail Cork East TD Michael Ahern was not available for comment yesterday.
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
