The former Dublin assistant city and county manager, George Redmond, described as "effectively destitute" in court this week, is in receipt of an annual pension of more than £27,000.
Pensions in the Civil Service are index-linked, which means Redmond is entitled to an annual pension equivalent to half the salary of the current holder of his position.
The position of Dublin assistant city and county manager no longer exists, with Dublin County Council having being replaced by three separate local authorities.
Dublin Corporation has confirmed its salary scale would be on par with that of the present assistant city manager who is on £54,926 a year, topped up by an additional allowance because Redmond also had responsibility for the county area. As a result, he is now entitled to an annual pension of over £27,000 even though his salary at the time of retirement in June 1989 was just £2,000 more, at £29,000.
Redmond was fined £7,500 by Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday for failing to make tax returns over 10 years. The charges to which he had pleaded guilty followed his arrest at Dublin Airport in February 1999 when, returning from the Isle of Man with a hold-all carrying £286,000 in cash and stockbrokers' cheques, he was intercepted by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
His counsel, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, pleaded that he was "effectively destitute" after paying the Revenue Commissioners £782,000 in tax, interest and penalties.