Cabinet set to axe severance pay for ministers

Lucrative golden handshakes for retiring ministers will be axed under proposals to be signed off on by the Cabinet in September.

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.