Plan to strip ex-ministers of pension payments to proceed

THE Department of Finance has insisted it will proceed with a plan to strip former ministers of their pension payments if they are still serving in the Dáil or Seanad.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced the move in last week’s emergency Budget, saying he was ending the arrangement whereby former ministers are paid ministerial pensions while they are still members of the Oireachtas.

It emerged at the weekend, however, that the attorney general had raised concerns about the move, saying it might not be legally enforceable.

But the department last night insisted the plan would go ahead, meaning former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and a host of former ministers will lose their pension payments until such time as they finish in the Dáil or Seanad.

Mr Lenihan announced the decision to end the arrangement because it was seen as politically unpalatable amid the current economic crisis that former ministers would receive their pension payments on top of generous Dáil salaries.

It’s understood the attorney general’s concern was that former ministers would have stood for re-election to the current Dáil in the expectation that they would receive their pension payments, as this was provided for in law. Removing that entitlement would be legally difficult.

But rather than concentrate on the plan’s legal feasibility or otherwise, the department said it would seek the co-operation of those affected by the proposal.

One government source said that, if necessary, the department could introduce a resolution on the floor of the Dáil calling for TDs to agree to the measure.

Any of the former ministers who opposed it would then have to explain their vote to the public.