Eighty-six TDs and Senators who lost their seats or did not seek re-election are receiving average “termination payments” of more than €40,000.

This follows the Oireachtas setting aside €3.5 million in “termination payments” or redundancy payments for this year and next year for the eligible 86 TDs and Senators who lost their seats in this year’s elections.

In new documentation published by the House of the Oireachtas concerning its 2017 estimates of expenditure, it confirms that this year it is projecting to spend €3.4 million in “termination payments” and a further €109,000 under the same heading next year.

Outlays

In addition, the Oireachtas has set aside €15.4 million for a pension fund and annual pensions are usually paid out after termination payments have been made.

However, the vast bulk of the pension payments would be paid out to former TDs and Senators who vacated their seats in prior elections.

The annual spend on pensions is one of the Oireachtas’s biggest annual single outlays and the spend on pensions this year is expected to be more than the Oireachtas’s combined €14.6 million spend on office equipment and external IT (€9.2 million); office premises expenses (€2.9 million); and consultancy services (€2.5 million).

The pension and termination payment make up 14 per cent of the Oireachtas’s projected gross spend of €130.9 million this year.