One of the four sitting politicians yet to relinquish a ministerial pension has said he will not do so unless it is the express wish of Dáil Eireann.
Donegal North East TD Jim McDaid, who was expelled from the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party for abstaining in a Dáil vote in 2008, released a statement today in which he said he did not believe he had a particular entitlement to such payments, but that he wanted to to draw attention to the issue of how elected representatives are remunerated.
Mr McDaid is a former Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. He receives an annual ministerial pension of €22,487.
Earlier, Fianna Fáil Senator Terry Leyden said he would give up the €21,761 annual pension he was entitled to recieve for serving as a minister of state for six years.
His decision means that only Fianna Fáil MEPs Pat “the Cope” Gallagher and Liam Aylward and TDs Mr McDaid and Noel Treacy have yet to surrender the payments.
Mr McDaid said he felt the tone of the current debate on pensions could result in a dilution of democracy as it was being driven by the media.
He said he accepted that the Taoiseach and ministers received a good salary but that TDs remuneration did not reflect the legislative power they had and that he feared the country could be heading in a direction where only wealthy people could afford to get into politics.
Speaking on RTÉs News at One, Mr McDaid said that TDs pensions accounted for only a miniscule amount of spending in the grand scheme of things.
Mr Leyden said earlier the State’s financial circumstances had changed and that former office holders were now facing the reality that they should give up their pensions.
He told RTÉ Morning Ireland that Taoiseach Brian Cowen had not spoken to him about the matter. "This was a matter for each individual TD, MEP or senator to make their own decision. Some made that decision some time ago. Others didn't."
Yesterday, the majority of serving politicians in receipt of ministerial pensions, including former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, agreed to give them up.
Mr Ahern wrote to the Department of Finance yesterday evening agreeing to “gift” his €83,426 a year pension back to the State. Former ceann comhairle Dr Rory O’Hanlon did the same with his pension of over €40,000 not long afterwards.
Their decisions followed a day of growing political pressure in which all of the Fine Gael and Labour Party TDs in receipt of ministerial pensions agreed to give them back.
It followed the controversy that led to Ireland’s EU commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn giving up her ministerial and Dáil pensions worth €108,000 a year.
Mr Gallagher, MEP for Ireland West, said that he was not going to be forced into making a “kneejerk” reaction.
Senior Fianna Fáil sources expressed confidence last night that the remaining party politicians still in receipt of ministerial pensions – would agree to hand them back. Such a move would make proposed Opposition legislation redundant.
Mr Leyden said the pension had been of benefit to him during his decade out of politics and that he was not now giving it up simply because others had.
"I can't speak for other people's circumstances…but all Oireachtas public representatives and councillors have taken a major hit at this point in time..."
Mr Leyden said the Government would have brought in legislation on the matter but that the Attorney General said it wasn't possible. "We could be criticised for not moving fast on this but better late that never," he said.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday announced that they would sponsor legislation to end such pensions in the current Dáil, despite the Government’s claim that it is legally prohibited from doing so.
The remaining TDs in both Opposition parties still drawing pensions have agreed to hand them back. Former Labour Party leader Ruairí Quinn, with a pension of €41,656, and former Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan, with €39,944, were the largest Opposition recipients.
When the Dáil met, Mr Kenny challenged the Taoiseach to accept his party’s Bill to immediately terminate the payment of ministerial pensions to serving members of the Oireachtas. “My challenge to the Taoiseach is to accept the Fine Gael Bill and thereby put an end to this practice for once and for all, in the interests of all concerned.”
The Taoiseach said the Attorney General’s advice was that it would be illegal to simply abolish ministerial pensions for serving politicians.
“I have made, and continue to make, the point that one cannot abolish property rights,” said Mr Cowen, who added that it was for each individual to consider if they wished to make a contribution in the light of the economic situation.
Shortly after the Dáil exchanges, Mr Ahern sent his letter “gifting” his pension to the State. Later, Cork TD Ned O’Keeffe also announced that he was giving up his pension of €6,810.
Last night, Mr Kenny attacked the Taoiseach for his handling of the pension controversy, saying that he had abdicated all responsibility.
“Rather than deal with the issue head on, he hid behind threadbare legal arguments and refused to speak directly to his Fianna Fáil colleagues and ask them to give up the pension payment. It is this type of hands-off, no-can-do attitude that has contributed over the years to the political and economic mess in which we now find ourselves as a country,” he said.