Ministerial pensions - Government not leading by example

“Fairness must be the cornerstone of all our efforts to achieve economic renewal,” Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on introducing the emergency budget in April.

“Those who have most must give most. However, before we ask anyone else to give, we in this House and in the Government must examine our own costs.”

“We must lead by example,” the minister continued before going on to announce the ministerial pensions being paid to members of the Oireachtas would be discontinued.

But he had to back off that decision following advice from the Attorney General, who said the Government did not have the necessary authority. He therefore advised that the minister consult with the pension recipients. Those pensions are paid to eligible members in addition to their Dáil salaries of €100,000, plus generous expenses that are paid well in excess of actual costs.

The Department of Finance wrote asking each member of the Oireachtas currently in receipt of a ministerial pension to suggest an appropriate amount by which their pensions should be cut. After six weeks only 16 of the 31 sitting members involved have bothered to reply.

The attitudes of the former ministers should be disclosed.

It applies to people on both sides of the Dáil. The public should be informed, because it exhibits an appalling lack of leadership by some politicians.

The Government had already backed down by allowing Dáil deputies to retain their long-service increments for the lifetime of this Dáil.

In the 1980s Des O’Malley and Bobby Molloy voluntarily gave up their ministerial pensions following the formation of the Progressive Democrats, but their gestures had no impact. Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny and the leader of the Labour Party Eamon Gilmore, and his deputy leader Joan Burton, have already written to the Department of Finance asking their pensions be withheld while they hold Dáil seats.

If members of the Government had the courage to act decisively in these matters, they would have public support. But instead, they have persisted in insulting the Irish people with empty protestations about taking hard, unpopular decisions in the national interest.

Good example is the essence of leadership, but this Government persists in affording lousy example. They seem to expect people to do as politicians say, not as the politicians do. Yesterday the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation criticised Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe for adopting a “minimalist and totally inadequate” approach to appeals against the closure of special needs classes.

The minister had earlier announced the closure of 128 special classes for children with mild, general learning difficulties in 119 schools. Mr O’Keeffe currently enjoys a teaching pension of €12,000 annually after tax, for his time as a college lecturer, even though he quit that job following his election to the Dáil in 1987. He enjoys that teaching pension on top of a ministerial salary of more than €200,000.

If the minister does not appreciate the inappropriateness of this, he is in serious need of education himself.

The Government is clearly not leading by example.