Cabinet set to axe severance pay for ministers
Brendan Howlin, the public expenditure and reform minister, has prepared the draft heads of legislation that will end the controversial severance payments introduced by Fianna Fáil in the early days of the boom.
The Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) Amendment Bill 2013 will also overhaul the €41,000 allowance paid to independent TDs and improve transparency of the system.
Severance payments have cost the State €1.6m since the collapse of the Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition and departure of a number of long-serving ministers.
Under legislation introduced in 1992, former ministers and attorneys general get half of their salary per year for two years after they retire, to compensate them for loss of ministerial salary.
Ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern received a €68,000 severance in the year after he stepped down in 2008 — on top of his TD salary worth €100,000.
Brian Cowen did not receive a ministerial severance payment as his taoiseach’s pension of €80,000 kicked in straightaway and both cannot be claimed at the same time. He left office with a total package worth over €310,000 in 2011.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, relinquished his €61,318-a-year severance payment. But several former ministers claimed it despite still being members of the Dáil.
They include five Fianna Fáil TDs, such as the chairman of the Dáil’s public spending watchdog, John McGuinness, who received €61,318 in severance payments since 2011.
Labour TD Willie Penrose, who resigned as housing minister in Nov 2011, claimed €28,240 in severance payments. Party colleague Róisín Shortall, who resigned as junior health minister in September, dec-lined to accept the €33,000 to which she was entitled.
Former minister Lucinda Creighton has refused to say whether she will claim the €46,000 severance payment she is entitled to — on top of her €87,258 TD salary — after resigning.
The commitment to abolish the payment was made by Fine Gael and Labour in the Programme for Government.
The draft legislation — to go before the Cabinet in September — allows for a 10% cut in the independents’ allowance, which is worth €41,152 to TDs and €23,382 to senators.
A number of other reforms will be introduced, including the requirement of independents to provide a “statement of expenditure and auditor’s report” to certify they are using it appropriately.
The payment will be renamed the parliamentary activities allowance. The Standards in Public Office Commission will be given the power to request records in support of these documents. It will also be given the power to issue guidelines and legally-binding advice in relation to the allowance.
