Two dozen ex-ministers and civil servants yet to start paying off incorrect pension deductions

Documents provided to the Public Accounts Committee show there is still €94,361 owed to the National Shared Service Office

There were 82 individuals impacted by the pension deduction issue. So far 58 have begun a payment plan or have already paid in full. File picture

There are 24 former Government ministers and civil servants who are yet to begin payment plans over incorrect pension deductions.

Documents provided to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) show there is still €94,361 owed to the National Shared Service Office (NSSO).

The NSSO confirmed last June that administrative errors resulted in current and former Government ministers and office holders having incorrect pension deductions applied.

The update, provided to the committee in late March, shows there are still 24 former ministers and civil servants who have not engaged with the process.

There were 82 individuals impacted by the pension deduction issue. So far 58 have begun a payment plan or have already paid in full. The NSSO previously confirmed that it had reached an agreement with all current senior and junior ministers.

“Engagement is ongoing with the remaining former ministers, office holders and civil service officers, with a further correspondence to issue by the end of March to those not yet in a payment plan,” the note reads.

Aidan Farrelly, Social Democrats TD and PAC member, said he was concerned about the number of former ministers who are yet to pay back the funds or start a payment plan.

Soft-hand approach

Mr Farrelly cited previous correspondence PAC has received, where the Department of Social Protection was classifying fraud cases involving sums of money less than €100.

“Whereas this seems to have been a very soft-hand approach to enforcement when it comes to getting payment plans set up for either former ministers for civil servants,” Mr Farrelly said.

“That comparison needs to be made, because the Department of Health or hospitals are employing debt collectors to chase inpatient fees. There’s a lot of people being chased for very small sums of money.

“Yet, there’s nearly €100,000 outstanding from people who are refusing [to engage].”

The Kildare North TD said he wanted to know if any former ministers are seeking to challenge the NSSO’s contention and if this is why several have yet to pay.

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Asked if there should be a ‘name and shame’ approach, Mr Farrelly said this was caused by an administrative error.

“No one did anything wrong for this overpayment to happen, but I do think a period of time should be called on it. Whereby after a certain date, these records will be made public.”

Mr Farrelly said some former ministers may not have begun repayment plans due to a lack of concern over media scrutiny.

• Tadgh McNally is a political reporter for the Irish Examiner