Noonan defends decision to claim €30k pension

FINE Gael’s finance spokesman, Michael Noonan, has defended his decision to continue claiming a ministerial pension, saying it goes directly to two charities.

He is one of five TDs — four from Fine Gael and one from Fianna Fáil — who continued to draw down a ministerial pension on top of their TD salary in 2010.

Eighteen TDs volunteered to “gift” their ministerial pensions to the state last April following public pressure. Controversy over such payments arose after it emerged Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was earning a €108,000 pension on top of her €243,000 salary as Ireland’s EU commissioner.

Fine Gael said at the time all of its TDs would forego the pension while still in office, and attempted to pass laws in the Dáil forcing all TDs to do so.

Mr Noonan earned €30,000 in a ministerial pension this year on top of a TD’s salary of more than €90,000. He has insisted that this money was used for charitable donations.

“I wish to state that all amounts payable to me as ministerial pension, are paid directly into a dedicated bank account.

“The full amount of the pension is paid out by way of standing order, each month, to two, well-known charities. This arrangement has been in place since Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny requested that former Fine Gael ministers, in receipt of ministerial pension, would either assign the pension to the Exchequer or donate it to charity.

“The bank account records will verify the veracity of this statement,” he said.

The Galway East TD, Noel Treacy, is the only sitting Fianna Fáil TD who has continued to claim a pension, amounting to €18,629.52. He admitted in May he would be one of the only TDs not handing up their pensions, saying he would be giving it to various charities.

A spokesperson for Fine Gael said the four TDs from the party still claiming the pension are all donating it to charity.

They include Cork South West TD Jim O’Keeffe, who earned a pension of €13,789; Dún Laoghaire Fine Gael TD, Sean Barrett, who was paid €18,841 in a ministerial pension; and Kildare North’s Bernard Durkan, who claimed €4,253.

Fine Gael put forward a bill in the Dáil last May calling for the payment of ministerial pensions to members of the Oireachtas to be stopped “with immediate effect”.

The bill, which was voted down by Fianna Fáil, would have shown political leadership, according to Fine Gael, who said it made the Dáil look like “a self-absorbed system that does not seem to be in touch with the problems facing ordinary people”.

Bertie Ahern has the highest pension of any sitting TD, at €98,901. He has agreed to gift this back to the state until he retires from politics.