Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2014
231. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 320 of 27 May 2014, the number of the 119 former Ministers he mentions who are serving Ministers. [26700/14]
View answer232. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 320 of 27 May 2014, the number of the 119 Ministers he mentions who were Ministers of State; the number who were full Ministers; and if any of the 119 are receiving or will receive more than one ministerial Oireachtas pension. [26701/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 231 and 232 together.
Under the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 2009, Ministerial pensions are, since the last general election (2011), no longer payable to sitting Members of the Oireachtas. In this context no serving Minister is in receipt of a Ministerial pension. Qualifying officeholders only receive one pension payment regardless of whether or not they have service both as a Minister and Minister of State - i.e. where a former Minister had previous service as a Minister of State such service is included in his/her overall pension calculation on a pro-rata basis. There is no separate payment made. It is not possible to identify former Ministers who also had service as Minister of State/Junior Minister from the database used by the Pay Master General to produce reports.
