This article is from page 3 of the 2011-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
FIVE former Clare members of the Oireachtas are receiving pension payments totaling nearly € 400,000, it has been revealed in the past week.
It has emerged that former Minister for the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Síle de Valera, who served as a TD in Clare for 20 years from 1987 to 2007 is the top pensions earner in the county.
The figures, contained in a reply from the Minister for Public Expenditure to a parliamentary question submitted by Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams, show that Ms de Valera is one of 30 former members of the Oireachtas to earn over € 100,000.
The former Fianna Fáil deputy earns € 103,647.51 a year, while her party colleague, Brendan Daly earns € 95,515.43. Mr Daly served as a member of the Oireachtas from 1973 until 2007. In that time he held down four Cabinet posts – in the Fisheries and Forestry, Marine, Defence and Social Welfare.
The pension figure for Tony Killeen who served as a TD from 1992 until 2011 was not contained the figures released to Deputy Adams, but earlier this year it was revealed that the former Minister for Defence’s pension entitlements were € 68,984.
Former Fine Gael deputy Donal Carey has a pension of € 66,022.87, the figures reveal while former Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, Tras Honan earns € 50,750.25.