Burke's finances: Although Ray Burke may be, in the words of his lawyers, "only a Dáil pensioner now," he still earns about three times the average industrial wage.
Burke's entitlement to almost €90,000 annually in Dáil pensions remains unaffected by his imprisonment on tax charges, the Department of Finance confirmed yesterday.
Last year he received a €44,435 pension in respect of a total of over six years spent as a Cabinet minister between 1980 and 1997.
In addition to this Burke receives a TD's pension of €44,523.36.
He was a TD for Dublin North from 1973 until his resignation in October 1997.
However, in 2000, he sold Briargate, his house in Swords, for almost €4 million. The planning tribunal found that the house was corruptly acquired in the 1970s from a company linked to Burke's builder friend, Mr Tom Brennan.
It was also the scene of the 1989 corrupt payment Burke got from Mr Jim Gogarty of JMSE, who later blew the whistle to the planning tribunal.
Burke used the proceeds from this sale to fund a €600,000 settlement with the Revenue Commissioners and to pay some of his legal bills.
With his wife, Ann, he bought a smaller house near Griffith Avenue in Whitehall.
Since then, the 61-year-old has not worked, and much of his time has been taken up with tribunal and court appearances. He has no other known sources of income.
However, some £118,000 (€149,829) remains in a "political fund" which is the subject of legal and accountancy advice, he told the tribunal several years ago.
Burke has lived modestly in retirement, passing his time watching cricket and enjoying quiet pints in north Dublin pubs.
Last year the tribunal refused his request for over €10 million in legal fees, arising from his involvement with the inquiry since 1998.
Burke, who has been represented by a number of different lawyers at the tribunal, will now have to negotiate a deal himself with his various representatives.
Most of the money he got from developers went on political campaigning, Burke told the tribunal.
However, tribunal lawyers estimated that 90 per cent of his outgoings went on personal expenditure.
From the money he got from builders Brennan and McGowan, they found, £18,500 (€23,490) went on renovating the kitchen at Briargate, £13,500 (€17,141) on building a tennis court and £23,500 (€29,838) on replacing his ministerial Mercedes with his own car.
