16 November 2011
Sinn Féin in Dáil exposes pension payment wrongly received by TD
BY MARK MOLONEY
A PARLIAMENTARY question by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD has led to the discovery that Fianna Fáil former junior minister and sitting TD John Browne has been collecting an annual pension of almost €11,000 for the past nine months despite not being entitled to it.
On November 9th, at the request of Sinn Féin, the Government supplied a list showing that 109 ex-ministers received, between them, €8.8million per year in pension payments. One of those included on the list was Wexford TD and current Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Marine and Fisheries, John Browne.
Apparently Deputy Browne did not notice the extra money being paid into his bank account.
The Sinn Féin probe has led to the payment being stopped and arrangements are being put in place to recover the €7,396 which has been wrongly paid to the TD over the course of the last nine months.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has apologised to Deputy Browne for the error. Gerry Adams has called for an investigation into how it was possible that such a situation had continued on for nine months.
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