Take the pension pot or pound the pavements?
Fianna Fáil ministers, who dominated Irish politics for the last decade, now face the choice of taking massive golden handshake payments instead of facing angry voters in a 2011 election.
An analysis of their pension entitlements shows the majority of Cabinet members would earn significantly more if they retire ahead of the election than they would be paid if they are lucky enough to win seats on the opposition benches.
Twelve senior ministers will cost taxpayers almost €4 million in severance payments if they lose their seats or chose to retire at the general election expected in March.
They are now likely to be tempted by the generous financial packages amounting to more than €300,000 rather than walk into humiliating election defeat, or, at best, earn €98,424 on the opposition benches.
At least 35 Fianna Fáil TDs would lose their seats in the next election if the polls are accurate, and some believe at least half of ministers’ seats are in doubt.
Even the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, who got 10,530 first preference votes in the 2007 election, is at risk of losing her seat according to a recent pre by-election poll in Donegal South West.
If the 46-year-old, who has been a TD since she was 21, chose not to face such humiliation she would get a pay off amounting to more than €342,000 next year and an annual pension of €140,000 for the rest of her life.
After 30 years in politics, with 14 years in ministerial office, the choice facing Mary Harney looks simple. Take her Tánaiste’s pension, or — if she keeps her Dublin Mid-West seat — face the grim prospect of five years as an opposition Independent TD.
She has not yet stated whether or not she will stand, but in a 2004 interview she gave an insight into how she would view such a prospect, saying: “If the PDs hadn’t started, I would have opted out. I’d made up my mind because I wouldn’t have hung around as an opposition TD.”
Tourism Minister Mary Hanafin recently said she would like to lead Fianna Fáil. But she will face a battle against colleague, Barry Andrews, for the one seat that is likely to be held by the party in Dun Laoghaire. Because she has served a shorter time in cabinet, she could claim a €312,000 pay off next year and an annual pension of €99,803 — still more than an opposition TD.
Private polling in Galway West shows Eamon Ó Cuív is one of the ministers who is safe. He is likely to fight the battle for his party in the constituency and defer his generous pension entitlements for another Dáil term, sacrificing a ministerial pension of €126,000 for a TD salary of €98,000.
There are also 17 former FF ministers and junior ministers whose pension payments would begin once they vacate their Dáil seats, include Willie O’Dea who is due a pension of €103,000 a year.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern gave up his ministerial pension earlier this year and will be able to claim the €98,901 when he steps down from office, as well as his TD salary of €53,291.
It’s not just ministers who will be doing a cost-benefit analysis of running for election.
Some 25 FF TDs were first elected to the Dáil more than 20 years ago — many holding their seats for all of that time. While many have not yet entered old age, the phenomenon dubbed “grey flight” is likely to be a feature of the next election.
