Gerry Adams lifts lid on Dáil pensions bonanza

SCANDAL: AS TAXPAYERS FACE HUGE BUDGET CUTS, 109 EX-MINISTERS POCKET HEFTY PAY-OFFS

BY JOHN HEDGES

The ex-ministers include Bertie Ahern on €152,000, former Labour Party leader Dick Spring on €121,000, and corrupt former minister Ray Burke on €103,000

SINN FÉIN has exposed the scandal of a pensions bonanza being pocketed by more than a hundred former Dáil ministers as taxpayers fear a slash and burn Budget.
More than one in four of the ex-ministers are on pensions of between €100,000 and €150,000 a year while their parties launch a wave of wage cuts and stealth taxes on the public.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD lifted the lid on the pensions pay-outs on Wednesday 9th November in a reply he received to his parliamentary question which detailed the amount of pensions paid to former ministers.
The response revealed that 109 ex-ministers are in receipt of pensions, amounting to an €8.8million payroll every year at taxpayers’ expense.
Thirty of them have pensions over €100,000 a year, including former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on €152,000, corrupt former minister Ray Burke on €103,000, and former Labour Party leader Dick Spring on €121,000.
One ex-minister who was not entitled to the pension as a sitting TD apparently didn’t notice the extra money (€7,400) going into his bank account! (Wexford Fianna Fáil TD John Browne, who was a junior Agriculture Minister, has said he’ll pay back the money.)
Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said:
“The fact that this level of payments is being paid to former ministers when we are facing into one of the harshest Budgets in history is a scandal. “Many of the people on this list are the architects of our economic downfall and of the hardships being faced by hundreds of thousands of Irish people today.
“Sinn Féin would suspend full pension payments for former ministers who have not reached pensionable age. We would ensure that former ministers who are employed by the state or by an EU institution would not be eligible to claim both their pension and their salary.
“And we would reduce their pensions in line with our proposals as published in our Bill earlier this year.”

Former pension Dáil

ministers pension PAY-OFFS

Ahern, Noel – €70,233
Ahern, Michael– €76,444
Ahern, Dermot– €119,965
Ahern, Bertie– €152,331
Allen, Lorcan– €64,043
Allen, Bernard– €64,535
Andrews, David– €108,430
Aylward, Liam– €49,934
Barry, Richard– €75,610
Barry, Peter– €126,481
Begley, Michael– €69,452
Bhreathnach, Niamh– €47,176
Birmingham, George– €37,890
Brady, Vincent– €59,630
Browne, John— €55,202
Bruton, John— €141,849
Burke, Richard– €53,334
Burke, Ray– €103,838
Byrne, Hugh– €68,390
Calleary, Seán– €72,841
Callely, Ivor– €14,754
Carey, Donal– €66,022
Cassidy, Donie– €11,505
Collins, Edward– €63,413
Collins, Gerard– €102,564
Connaughton, Paul– €67,668
Connolly, Gerard– €74,735
Cooney, Patrick– €102,564
Cosgrave, Liam T– €55,049
Cosgrave, Liam (Snr)– €133,025
Cowen, Brian– €151,061
Creed, Donal– €66,806
Cullen, Martin– €119,177
Currie, Austin– €59,383
Daly, Brendan– €95,515
D'Arcy, Michael– €68,854
Davern, Noel– €74,151
De Valera, Síle– €103,647
Deasy, Austin– €87,495
Dempsey, Noel– €119,177
Desmond, Barry– €86,423
Donnellan, John– €40,798
Doyle, Avril– €60,135
Dukes, Alan– €94,467
Fahey, Jackie– €68,011
Fahey, Frank– €113,141
Faulkner, Padraig– €102,564
Fitzpatrick, Tom– €56,076
Flood, Chris– €55,793
Flynn, Padraig– €87,129
Gallagher, Pat 'The Cope'– €70,562
Harney, Mary– €129,805
Higgins, Jim– €57,363
Higgins, Michael D– €87,928
Honan, Tras– €50,750
Hussey, Thomas– €61,215
Hussey, Gemma– €66,057
Hyland, Liam– €61,327
Jacob, Joe– €79,125
Kavanagh, Liam– €91,535
Kiely, Rory– €52,324
Kitt, Tom– €81,476
Lalor, Paddy– €101,153
Lyons, Denis– €48,744
MacSharry, Ray– €88,936
McCarthy, Seán– €38,604
McCreevy, Charlie– €19,177
McDaid, Jim– €97,406
McDonald, Charles– €58,501
McDowell, Michael– €60,388
McManus, Liz– €12,309
Moffatt, Tom– €42,192
Molloy, Robert – €113,677
Mullooly, Brian– €57,302
Nealon, Ted– €59,736
Noonan, Michael J– €80,684
O'Brien, Fergus– €66,991
O'Connell, Dr John– €76,309
O'Donnell, Liz– €58,903
O'Donnell, Tom– €85,797
O'Donoghue, Martin– €51,330
O'Donoghue, John– €119,177
O'Hanlon, Rory– €116,617
O'Keeffe, Edward (Ned)– €65,515
O'Keeffe, Jim– €70,797
O'Kennedy, Michael– €122,803
O'Malley, Tim– €31,192
O'Malley, Desmond– €106,721
O'Rourke, Mary– €117,981
O'Shea , Brian– €66,970
O'Sullivan, Toddy– €56,425
O'Toole, Paddy– €74,069
Owen, Nora– €73,826
Parlon, Tom– €31,192
Pattison, Seamus– €117,205
Power, Seán– €36,464
Power, Patrick– €75,968
Reynolds, Albert– €149,740
Ryan, Eoin– €53,814
Ryan, John– €67,335
Ryan, Richie– €93,032
Smith, Michael– €119,177
Spring, Dick– €121,108
Taylor, Mervyn– €77,979
Treacy, Noel– €83,609
Treacy, Seán– €119,177
Wallace, Dan– €73,092
Wallace, Mary– €77,446
Walsh, Joe– €119,177
Woods, Michael– €122,695
Yates, Ivan– €74,836