Both of the Green Party's Senators failed to turn up for a vote in the Seanad yesterday on the Bill containing a provision that will give former Fianna Fáil minister Michael Woods a back payment of €75,000 on his ministerial pension.
The inclusion of the special provision for Mr Woods in the Bill was criticised by Senator Dan Boyle of the Green Party during yesterday's Seanad debate, and when a vote was called, both Mr Boyle and his party colleague Senator Deirdre De Burca failed to turn up.
A party spokesman later denied that the pair had abstained on the Bill, saying that they were "unavoidably absent" for the division which was called after 1.30pm. The spokesman said they were at a parliamentary party meeting at the time.
The representative of the other junior Coalition party in the Seanad, the PDs' Fiona O'Malley, also criticised the provision for Mr Woods, but she voted with her Fianna Fáil colleagues in the division.
During the debate the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Batt O'Keeffe, denied any sleight of hand was involved in the legislation. He also rejected a media comparison with a garda who did not qualify for the backdating of his pension.
"The garda in question was dismissed from the force in 1973. At that time, forfeiture of superannuation benefits applied in the case of dismissal," he said.
The issue of the pension provision contained in the Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill was raised by Senator David Norris, who said that he had written to the Minister for Finance on behalf of constituents who could not obtain their pension entitlements because they, like Mr Woods, had failed to claim before a specific deadline.
"All pensioners should be treated the same before the law. This is not appropriate in a republic because we are treating one individual differently from everyone else. We are creating an anomaly by introducing this provision in law, which is not wise," he said.
Senator Boyle expressed concern at the fact that the provision had been included in the Bill and he suggested that it could have been dealt with in a Finance Bill or in a Bill following the Green Paper on Pensions. "It has created obvious unhappiness among members of the public, to which we need to respond as a House of the Oireachtas," he said.
Senator Fiona O'Malley suggested to Mr O'Keeffe that the proposal could be withdrawn and discussed at a later stage.
However, he said that the handling of the issue had been totally transparent and said the Government would not withdraw the Bill. The stage was then passed by 26 votes to 18.