Fine Gael leader vows not to take teacher's pension

KENNY RESPONSE:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has said he will not take a teacher's pension and called on Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to resign his teaching post today.

Under Dáil rules, Mr Kenny is entitled to a lump sum payment of about €100,000 when he turns 60 on April 24th. He had previously said he would not accept a pension from teaching until he retired from politics.

“Because my situation was as a former teacher in that profession and simply because I paid into a pension fund, in case anybody has any illusions that the leader of the Fine Gael party is anyway involved in a money situation here, I will not be accepting any pension from the teaching profession,” he said yesterday.

Mr Kenny also said he hoped those former teachers leaving the Dáil “on pensions of €100,000 for the rest of their lives” would think about what they were doing.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Mr Kenny called on the Fianna Fáil leader, also a former teacher, to resign his teaching post: “As I understand it, the moratorium doesn’t extend to essential frontline positions.”

Mr Kenny, who resigned his teaching position in 2004, said he had not received “one red cent” from his former profession in more than 30 years. He would also have been entitled to an annual teaching pension of more than €30,000 on top of the money he earned as a politician.

“Unlike others, my job was resigned by me and was filled on a fully-permanent position by some good teacher in my place,” he said. Mr Kenny was speaking at a meeting to showcase his party’s Dublin-based general election candidates at the Aviva stadium.

Earlier, Mr Martin said it was wrong that people found out from a newspaper report that Mr Kenny was due a “massive lump sum” despite having worked as a teacher for just four years.

“I accuse the Fine Gael party of rank hypocrisy and campaigning around the country on this.”

Last night Mr Martin said Mr Kenny had changed his position rapidly in a matter of hours, and continued to claim Mr Kenny had “dodged questions” about his own entitlements.

Mr Martin repeated he had forfeited pension entitlements and other benefits relating to his former profession and would not be returning to teaching. His seconded post would be given up in the next academic year, “when the teacher holding the post is in a position to make alternative arrangements”.

Under a long-standing agreement, teaching jobs are kept open for TDs.

Fianna Fáil Minister Pat Carey, another former teacher, confirmed he received a tax-free lump sum of €120,000. Mr Carey said he taught for 30 years and resigned his teaching position in 2008 when he was appointed a minister, adding that he was in receipt of a teaching pension.

A number of Fine Gael TDs are former teachers, including Donegal South West deputy Dinny McGinley who said he had resigned his post many years ago. “If I’m re-elected, I’ll be taking no teacher’s pension,” he said.

Other former teachers in Fine Gael include the party’s spokesman on finance Michael Noonan. Donegal North East TD Joe McHugh, Dublin South TD Olivia Mitchell and Dublin South West’s Brian Hayes said they never held permanent posts so had no pension entitlements. One of Fine Gael’s candidates in Dún Laoghaire, Mary Mitchell-O’Connor, is a school principal.

Mr Kenny’s fellow Mayo deputy John O’Mahony confirmed he was in receipt of a teacher’s pension, having retired before he was elected, but added that he presumed that sitting TDs will not be allowed to keep pensions from other professions in the future.

Louth TD Fergus O’Dowd said he had resigned his teaching post two years ago and deferred his pension entitlements.