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08/10/2009
O'Donoghue To Get €112,000 Payoff
Despite resigning in a blaze of controversy, Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue is to claim €112,500 after being forced out of his position.
The ousted Speaker of the Dail will be eligible for a salary of €100,000 for serving as a backbench TD and will also be able to claim an annual ministerial pension of around €25,000. This pension will then rise to €67,000 when he retires from the Dail.
Anger is growing amongst the Daíl members over Mr O'Donoghue's expected 'golden-handshake', which has followed expenses in the realm of €250,000 being claimed by the member, claiming back €1 charitable donations from the tax payer, previous refusals to apologise or resign before u-turns on both, and now delays in stepping down to ensure pension, pay and Daíl seat entitlements.
However, the anger among O'Donoghue's Daíl colleagues is now turning to concern as leader of the Green party John Gormley admitted yesterday that the O'Donoghue scandal may have "opened up a can of worms".
"If you were to do a trawl of all ministers, admittedly John O'Donoghue is probably in a league of his own, but you will find anomalies and you will find excesses," he said.
But a further embarrassment the Daíl awaits in the form of a new disclosure from the former officer in charge of overseeing expenses and allowances for TDs, who resigned the position during the summer over the refusal of the members to accept reform over the regime.
Tom O'Higgins, the chairman of the audit committee of the commission, said he felt obliged to step down due to the failure of an adequate vouching scheme to be accepted by the house.
As far back as May, Mr O'Higgins warned that if a transparent system of vouched expenses for TDs and senators was not introduced by the end of September he would step down, and did so last Tuesday.
(DW/GK)
The ousted Speaker of the Dail will be eligible for a salary of €100,000 for serving as a backbench TD and will also be able to claim an annual ministerial pension of around €25,000. This pension will then rise to €67,000 when he retires from the Dail.
Anger is growing amongst the Daíl members over Mr O'Donoghue's expected 'golden-handshake', which has followed expenses in the realm of €250,000 being claimed by the member, claiming back €1 charitable donations from the tax payer, previous refusals to apologise or resign before u-turns on both, and now delays in stepping down to ensure pension, pay and Daíl seat entitlements.
However, the anger among O'Donoghue's Daíl colleagues is now turning to concern as leader of the Green party John Gormley admitted yesterday that the O'Donoghue scandal may have "opened up a can of worms".
"If you were to do a trawl of all ministers, admittedly John O'Donoghue is probably in a league of his own, but you will find anomalies and you will find excesses," he said.
But a further embarrassment the Daíl awaits in the form of a new disclosure from the former officer in charge of overseeing expenses and allowances for TDs, who resigned the position during the summer over the refusal of the members to accept reform over the regime.
Tom O'Higgins, the chairman of the audit committee of the commission, said he felt obliged to step down due to the failure of an adequate vouching scheme to be accepted by the house.
As far back as May, Mr O'Higgins warned that if a transparent system of vouched expenses for TDs and senators was not introduced by the end of September he would step down, and did so last Tuesday.
(DW/GK)
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