Ex-politicians like Bruton should know when to get off the soapbox

JOHN Bruton is retired from active politics.

We know this because the former Taoiseach takes an annual pension of nearly €140,000 from the public purse — and it was higher before he and former office holders were required to take a cut. You could call it “shush money”, as the term “hush money” has pejorative meanings. But the annual payment, to a man who has not hit retirement age as yet, and who has significant other earnings, signifies something important: he has left the stage, he is no longer a player and is not meant to be and this money compensates for that fact. He is not an ordinary citizen who can duck into and out of major political issues according to his whims.

Bruton’s intervention into the abortion legislation debate on Monday — by way of an opinion column in a daily newspaper — put Enda Kenny, the first Fine Gael party leader to make it to the position of taoiseach since Bruton, under further unnecessary and unfair pressure at just a time when he didn’t need it.