EIGHT FORMER attorneys general are in receipt of substantial public service pensions of up to €67,000 a year.
Among the former attorneys general, Michael McDowell has the highest pension, amounting to over €104,000 a year. This is in respect of his service as a minister and tánaiste as well as a former attorney general.
Figures on ministerial pensions published last week indicate that Mr McDowell (60), who is back working at the Bar, is paid €60,388.64 a year in respect of his service as a Progressive Democrats minister between 2002 and 2007. He served as tánaiste for nine months in 2006-2007.
The biggest pension for service in the attorney general role on its own is the €67,686 being paid to Mr Justice John Murray (68), according to the figures from Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin. Mr Justice Murray was nominated twice for the post by Charles Haughey in 1982 and 1987-1991.
He has also served on the European Court of Justice and was on the Supreme Court for 15 years before retiring earlier this year as Chief Justice. He is still serving as a Supreme Court judge.
Harry Whelehan, who served as attorney general between 1991 and 1994 and stood down as president of the High Court after six days after the controversy over the Fr Brendan Smyth affair, is in receipt of a pension of €54,025 a year.
Former European commissioner Peter Sutherland (65), who served in two governments under Garret FitzGerald, is being paid an annual pension of €49,500, the figures also show.
Former AIB chairman Dermot Gleeson (62), attorney general 1994-1997, is getting a pension of €47,918, while John Rogers, who held the post from 1984 to 1987, is being paid €44,905. The smallest attorney general pension is paid to former European commissioner David Byrne (64), at €43,061.
The information is provided in an answer given by Mr Howlin to a parliamentary question by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams.
“The comfortable pensions being paid to former attorneys general is in sharp contrast to the hardships being faced by hundreds of thousands of Irish people today,” Mr Adams said last night.
“As the State faces into one of the harshest budgets in its history, I call on the Government to intervene to ensure that people who have not yet reached retirement age and are still in employment do not receive these pensions.”
Six on the list of pension-holders were among eight former holders of the office who last month opposed the proposed amendments to the Constitution on judicial pay and on Oireachtas inquiries.
In an unprecedented intervention, the group wrote to the national newspapers expressing their opposition. They argued the proposals would weaken the rights of individuals and provide insufficient protection for judicial independence. The signatories were Patrick Connolly, Peter Sutherland, John Rogers, Harry Whelehan, Dermot Gleeson, David Byrne, Michael McDowell and Paul Gallagher.
Figures published last week show pensions for former ministers cost €8.8 million annually.