THE €36 MILLION pension entitlements of the current Cabinet constitutes only a small part of grossly excessive pension payments among high earners in the public service, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has said.
Ms McDonald was one of several senior Opposition politicians who criticised the pension packages of the 15 Government Ministers, including the €3.2 million entitlement of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, following a report in The Irish Times yesterday.
The Sinn Féin TD, who is her party’s spokeswoman on public expenditure, said the “excessive pension pots for Government Ministers is yet another expression of the pay and pension inequity that remains within the public sector”.
Ms McDonald said many public sector workers received modest pensions but those at the higher end of the spectrum, Government ministers and secretaries general, enjoyed salaries and pensions hugely in excess of their European counterparts.
She said that Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin had “merely tinkered at the edges of pay and pension reform since entering office”.
Ms McDonald said there were 16 serving secretaries generals who had special terms that allowed them to retire early on full pensions as well as getting special severance payments. She said that the pensions for this group would be well above €100,000. She said city and county managers also benefited from these terms.
Fianna Fáil spokesman on public expenditure Seán Fleming emphasised the contrast between election promises from the Coalition parties and what has happened since they came into Government.
“Given the rhetoric from Fine Gael and the Labour Party in the run up to the general election, I can understand the level of anger that many people will feel when they read about the detail of the pensions being earned by the current Cabinet,” said Mr Fleming.
Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins was sharply critical of the pension arrangements. “They have two pensions, one as a TD and one as a Minister. The general principle should be that there should be only one pension . . . based on the average industrial wage,” he said.
Independent TD Stephen Donnelly said the salaries of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers was too high.
