Oireachtas gets extra €1m for pensions after accounts error
Wednesday November 25 2009
UP TO €1m more needs to be put into the pension payment scheme for TDs and senators this year because of an administrative error, the Irish Independent has learned.
The death of a number of sitting and former members of the Oireachtas is also being attributed to the additional spend.
The Dail will have to vote through an additional €997,000 for the Oireachtas pension scheme.
The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission says this money will come from savings elsewhere, although it's not yet clear how much will be saved by cutbacks in the Dail and Seanad.
The need for the extra funding is being put down to a combination of an "administrative underestimation" and unexpected payments to the families of deceased members.
"Due to a combination of underestimation of requirements and unanticipated payments in respect of certain deceased members, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission needs to make additional technical provision for pensions. This will not effect an increase in the overall estimate provision for this year," a spokesperson said.
But the added payment does mean the Oireachtas will have to spend €1m which it expected to save.
When a serving member of the Oireachtas dies, a death-in-service gratuity or lump sum is payable to either the member's spouse or an executor of their estate.
Retirement
The amount of the lump sum payable is based on either the value of the deceased person's annual salary or the value of the pension lump sum which would have been payable to them on retirement -- whichever is higher.
The pension lump sum is calculated at three times the value of a member's annual pension. So if a pension is calculated to be €50,000, the pension lump sum would be €150,000.
A rough guide to the amount of gratuity or lump sum payable is half the salary multiplied by three.
The entire severance and pensions system in the Oireachtas has come under increased scrutiny since the start of the economic crisis.
The Government cut the pensions of sitting TDs by a quarter earlier this year, with a view to phasing the double payments out completely.
Former ministers -- including ex-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern -- could find it more profitable to retire at the next general election as a result of the move to change the payments.
The Government was under pressure on the issue since announcing in the April emergency Budget that it intended to end ministerial pension payments to sitting TDs.
It decided in June to reduce them by a quarter and then end them after the next general election.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan drafted legislation to totally abolish the payment of ministerial pensions to members of the Oireachtas from the date of the next general election.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor
Irish Independent
