FIANNA FÁIL attempted to maintain pressure on Fine Gael yesterday around the issue of party leader Enda Kenny’s pension provision, which he said on Sunday he would not accept.
Fianna Fáil’s deputy leader Mary Hanafin accused Mr Kenny of hypocrisy for having previously criticised Ministers from her party about their severance payments. “His thing was criticising everybody else for taking payments, lump sums and severance payments and keeping quiet about his own,” she said.
Ms Hanafin said she had worked as a teacher for 17 years, but her post was no longer available and she had been informed by the Department of Education that she would be entitled to an €11,000 pension when she reached the age of 65. She described Mr Kenny’s entitlement to a €100,000 lump sum and annual pension of €30,000 as “very, very wrong” given that he taught for only four years before going into politics in 1975.
Under a long-standing agreement, teaching jobs are kept open for TDs although the arrangement has been revised recently.
Mr Kenny said on Sunday he would not be accepting any pension from the teaching profession, having previously indicated he would accept the pension when he retired from politics.
The Fianna Fáil justice spokesman John Curran insisted Mr Kenny had been intending to take a lump sum payment from his teaching pension of about €100,000 when he turned 60 in April until the matter was made public.
“The man who wants to be Ireland’s leader with complete control of government has campaigned against politicians receiving pensions, but was planning to take a large payment in April,” Mr Curran said.
Yesterday, Mr Kenny said Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin “seems to know more about my financial affairs than I know myself”. The Fine Gael leader said he had clarified his position on the issue on Sunday, adding: “That matter is closed and dealt with.”
Asked about Labour’s stance on teachers’ pensions for TDs, party leader Eamon Gilmore said: “I have always believed that people in Dáil Éireann should do one job. I don’t believe in double-jobbing and I don’t believe in people drawing two salaries while doing one job.”
With reference to Mr Kenny’s situation, Mr Gilmore said he had been surprised to learn that someone who had taught for just four years would have a pension in the first place.
Radio station Newstalk 106-108FM issued a statement yesterday denying suggestions that Mr Kenny was not asked about his pension in an interview, recorded on Sunday and broadcast yesterday morning, because preconditions were set by Fine Gael.
“Newstalk wishes to state categorically that no such preconditions were in place. They were not sought and Newstalk considered that the issue of the pension had been dealt with in Enda Kenny’s speech from the podium.”
Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey confirmed last night he receives a small pension having resigned from his teaching post several years ago. Fine Gael deputy Jimmy Deenihan said he was on leave since 1983 and received no benefits from teaching at present. Mr Deenihan said if Mr Kenny were to propose teachers’ pensions for TDs should be scrapped he would have no problem with that.
Independent TD Joe Behan said he was on a leave of absence from teaching since 2007 and had asked the Department to withdraw any benefits while he was in the Dáil.
