One in three ministers who owe State from incorrect pension deductions have yet to start paying money back

Public expenditure minister Jack Chamber said 'engagement is ongoing with the 10 ministers' and the NSSO, adding they 'should' pay the money back

Mr Chambers confirmed 34 current ministers were affected by the NSSO errors. Just two are owed money back, while the remaining 32 owe money to the State.

Nearly a third of sitting government ministers who owe the State thousands of euro due to incorrect pension deductions have yet to start paying the money back.

Public expenditure minister Jack Chambers confirmed that 32 current ministers owe money back to the State, but 10 have yet to start repaying and have not put payment plans in place.

The Fianna Fáil TD told the Oireachtas finance committee that “anything that’s owed must be repaid”.

Last June, Mr Chambers confirmed that, due to administrative errors at the National Shared Services Office (NSSO), members of the current Government, some members of previous governments, and a number of office holders have had incorrect application of pension deductions.

Liabilities for ministers ranged from hundreds of euro to the “low €30,000s”.

It was confirmed at the time that former ministers and senior civil servants owed money back to the State, while up to 13,000 retired civil servants could have been underpaid.

At the finance committee, following questions from Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty, Mr Chambers confirmed 34 current ministers were affected by the NSSO errors. Just two are owed money back, while the remaining 32 owe money to the State.

“Of those, 24 have refunded this or are in a repayment plan,” Mr Chambers said.

“There's ongoing follow-up with 10. Relating to former ministers, 39 were under-deducted. One was over-deducted. The latest information is that 12 are in a repayment plan. One has been refunded, and five [have] paid the balance in full."

Much more leniency

He said the review relating to current and former ministers has been completed.

“The NSSO is concluding its engagement to ensure those ministers are in a repayment plan — I don't know who is or isn't in the repayment plan — or that they refund the particular amount.”

Mr Chamber said “engagement is ongoing with the 10 ministers” and the NSSO, adding they “should” pay the money back.

He also said he does not know how much money these ministers owe, nor is he aware of the level of engagement they are having with the NSSO.

Mr Doherty said he “did not expect this information”, adding that the public would not be given as much leniency if they had been overpaid money.

“Just before Christmas, I had somebody in my constituency office who, through no fault of her own, was overpaid by the Department of Social Welfare,” he said.

“The Department of Social Welfare just took the money back. They weren't given six or seven months to work this out.

“We're talking about ministers here who are all paid in excess of €180,000, and we're told that 10 current ministers still haven't arranged a method to pay this money back.”

Mr Doherty also pointed out that only 17 of 39 ministers who owe money back to the State have not made arrangements. 

Mr Chambers said they were informed later than the sitting ministers that there was an issue.

In response to queries from finance committee chair Mairead Farrell, Mr Chambers said he has asked the NSSO to “ensure that the liabilities owed are made proper as quickly as possible”.

An external audit of the NSSO is expected to be sent to the minister within the next two to three months.

• Louise Burne is the Political Correspondent for the Irish Examiner.