Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
POLITICAL STAFF EMPLOYED by TDs and senators who retired or lost their seats at the last election received generous redundancy packages that cost the taxpayer up to €4.4 million.
The packages paid to politicians’ secretaries and assistants included around €1.1 million in standard statutory redundancy, but were topped up by €3.3 million in discretionary payments under a separate scheme.
A total of 199 former staff shared the redundancy pay-pot of €4,407,943 with eight ex-employees claiming redundancy packages worth more than €100,000. The top claimant received €167,655.
Secretaries and parliamentary assistants employed by TDs or senators who either did not contest the last election – or did contest but lost their seat – were entitled to redundancy payments under Oireachtas rules.
Staff with a minimum of two years’ service were entitled to statutory redundancy, which is the equivalent of two weeks’ pay to a maximum of €600 per week for each year of service, plus one bonus week.
However, the redundancy packages of outgoing political staff were topped up under the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) scheme, which was paid at the discretion of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
The VER package amounted to four weeks’ pay per year of service, with an additional one-third bonus applying to service accrued prior to March 2011.
Generous terms
The scheme was originally introduced in 2011 as a means of achieving a targeted reduction in the number of people employed in the public service.
Payment of VER precludes the recipient from working in the public sector for a period of at least two years.
The generous terms of the redundancy package meant that a parliamentary assistant employed by a TD in 2011 would walk away with a tax-free payment of almost €25,000 if their TD was not re-elected to the current Dáil.
This would consist of €6,600 in statutory redundancy and a pay-out of around €18,000 under the VER scheme, calculated on a final salary of €46,558 after five years of service.
Figures released by the Houses of the Oireachtas under the Freedom of Information Act show that 22 ex-employees received redundancy packages worth more than €50,000 after the general election last year.
While the identities of the recipients were not disclosed, the data indicates that the top recipient of €167,655 was employed by a TD on a final salary of €52,200, which is the amount paid to a parliamentary assistant at the top end of the salary scale.
An individual employed by a senator was the second-highest beneficiary, leaving the Oireachtas with a redundancy package of €161,596, composed of €43,236 in statutory payments and €118,360 under the VER scheme.
The dataset may include a small number of workers who qualified for redundancy packages in circumstances other than retirement or the loss of a seat by a TD or senator.
A spokesperson for the Houses of the Oireachtas said that it is normal practice in Ireland to obtain a payment on retirement or being made redundant.
“These payments by the Oireachtas in such circumstances are in accordance with the statutory provisions which apply,” she added.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It was agreed in a meeting between the HSE and IMO, why didn’t the IMO tell their members?
I will wait for the IMO to come out and explain all this
Ridiculous that GPs can reinstate medical cards. They are hardly objective when treating their own patients and this approach results in the old system of he who shouts the loudest getting a medical card. Or as happened in FF’s time, you simply wrote to a TD to get a medical card.
2 million medical cards in the country. Onwards and upwards from here – let’s make it 3 million !
well done FG/LAB…you have even managed to make GPs look stupid – that’s not a good idea because they are not !
Please Sean just wait, the truth will out.
Great to see that Michael Healy Rae got his degree in medicine …. and he wearing the cap and all …humility on a grand scale !
I call BS, I work for a GP, we certainly have never heard of it….. But I could give lists of cases where people who really need and deserve medical cards are still bein messed about by PCRS…. So Varadkar now resorts to lies, one word comes to mind…. Disgusting…. The whole lot of them should be ashamed of the human cost of austerity forced into our most vulnerable. How many more people will consider suicide like that poor young guy in Galway? It’s really distressing listening to people who are already ill become hopeless in the face of the incompetent stonewalling of the HSE….
Cathy. My GP described this possibility to me last year. If he knew about it, I’m sure that your employer was also told about it.
There are stats on GPs using their reinstatment power…so clearly some GPs did get it. A chat with 50 GPs along the lines of ‘did you read such a letter in 2011-2012?’ does not go anywhere near a representative number of GPs in ireland (rep. about only 2% of them). So obvious some GPs did receive and read the letter…the lack of the latter being the most likely cause of confusion in this case.
My practice staff can confirm that not only could they not reinstate a card once it had expired, but when they telephoned the PCRS they were told that the patient would have to complete another application form regardless of their personal circumstances
We were promised it but it never happened. Another false dawn.
So not 1 gp actually read the agreement? Highly unlikely
Sorry, I can categorically state it was never said to our GP, do you not think that we would have used it for patients with cancer? Or an autistic child? It would have been used if it was policy….
Also, they are giving more discretionary powers to local HSE offices…. That’s the way it used to be done, ridiculous to wrap it up as a ‘new’ measure, it’s nothing of the sort!!!!
You’d swear they were gearing up for an election or something with all these ‘new’ anouncements.
Would GP’s have the same criterias as HSE and people would have to send their GP all the personal info re income and other data to be read? And if unfair dismissal of the card whom should one ask for a revision?
Is there any end to this government’s stupidity, even there “supposedly good news stories” are full of glaring holes and not properly thought out.
get’s broken down in the translation from German to English ….
Michael This does not hold true in the waiting room. Here we all wait and join the queue. If you ring to make an appointment you are given a time but when you get to the clinic you give your name at reception and you join the queue. It does not matter whether you are a private or Medical Card patient. Only Medical emergencies get priority and thankfully that is a rare enough occurrence. But otherwise you wait ….. and wait.
Plonkers!!
That’s given GPs a open check book – hey buddy come 1000 times a year
We are not paid per visit so that argument doesn’t hold up. I can state categorically that it is not possible to reinstate a medical card. I use the HSEs system and it doesn’t have this functionality. No circular came re this. Why would I spend previous time writing begging letters to the HSE if I could just reinstate cards with one click ?????
Point of information. GPs are paid an annual fee for looking after each patient regardless of the number of consultations. We don’t get paid per visit or house call during surgery hours. 2012 OECD data forecasted to 2014 after 2013 FEMPI will show us amongst the lowest earning GPs in the OECD as a proportion of average income. HSE administration amongst the highest earning.
These comments represent all regular GPs inhabiting planet earth. HSE comments must be referring to virtual GPs in satellite clinics.
My mother who is 83 and has very bad Dementia, has had her medical card removed. The forms to reinstate it would stop a qualified accountant in his tracks.
Surely to God Gov. knew this and if not why not. Imagine announcing something already in place whole Gov. should hang their heads in shame. How come Drs that knew about it didn’t say a word when parents came on radio/tv to appeal for help for seriously ill children.
Shame can be spread around on this one.
Do you actually believe government media releases. When were they ever fair or honest regarding GPs? I must commend their ability to produce black propaganda in order to distract attention away from reality.
have your say