Gilmore says media has 'ballyragged' civil servants

THE TÁNAISTE refused to respond to criticisms of senior civil servants’ pension and severance packages but claimed they had been “ballyragged” for far too long by politicians and media.

Eamon Gilmore condemned Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald for naming and criticising senior public servants in the Dáil.

Ms McDonald questioned him about an Irish Timesreport yesterday that Department of Education secretary general Brigid McManus would receive an annual pension of €114,000 and an after-tax lump sum payment of €204,000 on retirement next February, aged 53.

Ms McManus will voluntarily waive an additional severance payment of €126,817 provided for in her remuneration package.

The Dublin Central TD compared the financial circumstances of senior public servants with the Government’s announcement of 14,500 public service job cuts as part of its public-sector reforms.

She highlighted the “pensions scandal where over €8 million in taxpayers’ money goes to the pensions of former ministers”, many of whom were still in employment.

“We see the cronyism of the last government continuing with 20 people with affiliations to Fine Gael or Labour appointed to State boards since you took office. And five of the six judges appointed by Government [were] on your watch,” she told the Tánaiste.

Ms McDonald also referred to the controversy about the proposed appointment of Department of Finance secretary general Kevin Cardiff to the European Court of Auditors in the wake of the department’s €3.6 billion accountancy error. She accused Mr Gilmore of refusing “to call for accountability at the very highest levels of the Civil Service”.

Declining to respond to the criticisms of senior civil servants’ remuneration packages, he said reforms were being introduced “so that we can deliver better, more cost-effective services to our public. But we have to respect our public servants,” he said.

“Our public servants do a good job and they have been the subject of ballyragging for far too long, ballyragging by people, sometimes in media and sometimes . . .”

Amid heckling about criticisms he had made when he was in Opposition, Mr Gilmore said: “When I sat over there, you can’t point to a single occasion that I attacked public servants individually or generally.”

The Tánaiste added: “I respect public servants and I respect the work that they do and I think people in this House should show that respect as well.”

He told Ms McDonald that was why it was “so wrong for you to come into this House and to name individual public servants who do not have the opportunity or the privilege you have of responding to your allegations against them in this House”.

Ms McDonald said she had the utmost respect for public servants. “I also believe in the accountability of the public and Civil Service at the highest leadership levels.”