Minister for Justice Brian Cowen made a further change to legislation going through the Dáil this week to benefit two other former ministers with pension difficulties, Fine Gael's Sean Barrett and Fianna Fáil's Frank Fahey, it has emerged.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Minister had changed the law to ensure that former minister Michael Woods did not lose out on €75,000 worth of pension entitlements because he had failed to apply for his pension on time.
Under the changes made to political pension rights that benefit Fine Gael Dún Laoghaire TD Sean Barrett and Fianna Fáil's Galway West TD Frank Fahey, Mr Cowen has decided that all former ministers should qualify for pensions after two years' service, regardless of whether they are part of a pre-1993 scheme, or one that came into force in 2001.
Under the older scheme, ministers had to have served three years, but this was cut to two in the 2001 scheme, which left both Mr Barrett and Mr Fahey at a disadvantage.
The two politicians are both members of the older pension scheme, but did not qualify for a ministerial pension because they have less than three years' cabinet service.
Defending his decisions regarding Mr Woods, Mr Barrett and Mr Fahey, Mr Cowen said ministers had to "act justly" in cases that came before them "even if it is not perceived in the wider domain as being such or is unfairly portrayed otherwise".
However, in rejecting an application for a backdated pension by a former garda who is now serving as an independent county councillor and chairman of Galway County Council, Mr Cowen earlier this year stated that a pension change "cannot be introduced on an individual basis" and the implications of such a move would be "very numerous and costly".
Patrick Hynes was dismissed from the force in 1973 after he tried to incite another garda to steal explosives. Mr Hynes served as a garda from 1959 until his dismissal, when he lost his rights to a pension under regulations then in place.
In 1976, the Garda Síochána agreed that superannuation benefits would be preserved for members of the force who resigned voluntarily, or in cases where they were dismissed after that date.
The change then put in place has meant that officers subsequently dismissed, such as Supt Kevin Lennon in Donegal, have retained their pension entitlements.
Mr Hynes, who lives on Gort Road, Loughrea, was arrested and charged with inciting another garda to aid and abet in the larceny of explosives from a Cement Roadstone quarry in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
Sentenced to two years in the military jail in the Curragh, Mr Hynes was described in court as a man of "excellent character", who had acted in the way that he did because of his depth of feeling about events in Northern Ireland at the time.
