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PENSIONS BEING PAID out to politicians named as corrupt in the Mahon Tribunal report could be cut off, a junior minister has said.
Joe Costello, Minister of State with responsibility for trade and development, said a constitutional amendment would be required to apply the cuts retrospectively to people who received corrupt payments.
But he said there was “no reason” why the change could not be introduced. Similar measures are already in place at an EU level, Costello said.
“It would be possible I believe to deal with the pensions issue by way of a constitutional amendment,” he told RTÉ’s The Week In Politics. “To make sure that politicians, that senior planners, that people who were paid from the public purse – their pensions could be rescinded.”
Costello said that the issue would be addressed by the upcoming Constitutional Convention.
It would require a constitutional amendment to deal with the people named in these reports because you can’t normally introduce legislation retrospectively. But that’s a matter we should look at, and at the present time we are establishing a Constitutional Convention.
A number of politicians were found to have received corrupt payments in the final report of the Mahon Tribunal, including former Fianna Fáil minister Pádraig Flynn and eleven former Dublin councillors.
Ex-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was found to have given untrue evidence to the tribunal hearings.
Labour MEP Nessa Childers has called for the EU Commission to stop pension payments to Pádraig Flynn, who served as the commissioner for Ireland during the 1990s.
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It’s the least they can do to restore some confidence in the system, we’ve paid for the Tribunal they have been found guilty, do that think we are going to pay them a pension from our tax too? – HELL NO!!!
They SHOULD be cut off not could be..
What about Bertie’s lies?
Is he going to be dragged before the court for perjury and a full investigation into his dealings?
Looking at the poor Collins family forced to live abroad makes me weep. When we sort out pensions to corrupt politicians, should we not look towards the payments that you and me make to career criminals ?
Could be – but won’t be
In a word, No. That’s sums the whole tribunal process up. Waste of our money, it is not a criminal proceeding and cannot be used to convict any of the people named.
The only way that Bertie will feel any pain is through his pocket. Let revenue go after him now. What about all the lost revenue on his ” digouts.”
As much as I’d love to see the likes of Ahern and Flynn lose their pensions, this shower of weaklings in charge haven’t got the stomach for this sort of stuff! After all Michael Lowery is still one of their own!! I can’t see anything changing, as long as this political system remains!!
It’s time the ‘could be’ sentiment was acted on and the pensions actually terminated. Ridiculous that they creamed it off us down through the years and are still allowed to do so. In no other state would this be tolerated.
If people all over this country have lost all or some of there pensions for doing nothing wrong then how hard can it be to take the pensions from these bastards come on
If nothing happens, I will firmly believe that every politician is somehow corrupt. The only reason i can see, why the current government wouldn’t pursue this, is if they themselves would have something to worry about also. Like their own little brown envelopes at some point? Nothing has ever happened to Michael Lowry either, FG are just as bad as FF in my opinion. Make an example of him if you have nothing to hide…
‘Well go ahead and do it, in fact I recommend a pension review clause and a means test.
Let’s vote for it in a referendum.
But!!!!
The vote should be that no politician can claim a pension until retirement age, like the rest of the serfs.
Totally agree with you, they should be treated exactly the same as the rest of us.
So let’s get the constitutional done. It’s long past time for us to deal with this.
Holy God, some one in labour has slipped out of the power fog for a split second and realized how much trouble they are in. They are the PD’s and the greens dead in the water drunk on power and too stupid to know it!!
if flynn gets sacked it would give him time to live in all of his 3 houses.
The thing is
“Ex-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was found to have given untrue evidence to the tribunal hearings.”
He was not found by the tribunal to be corrupt so really it will only be Flynn, as councillors do not have pensions. Flynn I am sure will be still entitled to his EU pension so a lot more wasted down the drain changing the law for one man? I would rather see them implement the other recommendations in Mahon first like a Committee to investigate Corruption sitting in private etc.
It would. not be the first time the law has been changed for one man!
But my point is the government will change this law to get Flynn and then push the other recommendations under the carpet, “sure we stopped Flynn’s pension all is grand”. We will then be left back at square one. Fair enough the past offenders need to be punished but surly it more important to ensure this does not happen again?
Look at what happened with Moriarty, how many of his recommendations got implemented? Denis O’Brien was invited to the Global Irish Forum by Labour’s Gilmore and then pictured with Kenny in NYC so he is back in bed with the current government.
We need to ensure this does not happen again and the we know it can be self regulated.
I don’t get this argument, you seem to think it’s not possible to cut off their pension AND make sure this doesn’t happen again.
There seems to be a lot of “either or” options floating around economic and legal issues in Ireland. I don’t get it.
Same with the banks – apparently it’s not possible to not pay for the banks AND make an economic recovery. It’s only one or the other. Very short sighted.
We need to overcome the ’7th amendment of the constitution’ syndrome in the Republic of Ireland.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Amendment_of_the_Constitution_of_Ireland
The 7th amendment to the Constitution was passed by the Irish people in 1979 and allowed the Oireachtas to pass a new law to allow graduates of higher education institutes other than Trinity College and the National University of Ireland to elect 6 Senators. This was a modest measure, to be sure, but one that would have notched the Senate in a more democratic direction, even if only slightly. The Oireachtas never passed any legislation to enact the People’s Will.
We need to overcome this sense of paralysis, this sense of stasis, this sense of being rabbit staring into the headlights of an oncoming truck, and DO SOMETHING. We need to put pressure on our politicians to do the right thing rather than adopt the self-fulfilling armchair attitude that all politicians are inherently corrupt, apathetic, lazy and are just on the job to line their own pockets and, therefore, questioning the merits of lobbying them to do anything.
TAKE THE PENSIONS FROM ALL MINISTERS TAKE THE PENSIONS TAKE THE PENSIONS TAKE THE………..
Corruption is of course one reason that a state pension should be cut, but as Donal has said, its only that Flynn person and some other “no mark” councillors that would only be impacted as Bertie is in effect a liar and an obfuscator rather than “officially” corrupt. Now, if gross negligence were a reason to cut or at least drastically reduce state pensions that would bring a lot of people into the net, for example the entire last cabinet. It’s amazing that the gross mishandling of countries finances does not merit some form of censure. Right now we have a former head of Fas, a Former head of the financial regulation, several ministers responsible for economic calamity in this country. So here we are borrowing money from the troika to pay massive pensions to the like of Biffo, Mary Coughlan , Bobby “ Molly, Michael Nearly, sorry Neary et al . This is an effrontery to decency. It must be nigh on impossible to live near one of these people and see them swan off of golfing or whatever it is they do on public lolly when they directly impacted some many live in such a negative way
not a hope this will happen not a hope, tho i wish it would :(
Do it now! Now! And no politician Gould receive a pension at 39 cause no one wants them anymore and no one should receive 2 or 3 different pensions from the gov. BS!
Could be cut SHOULD be cut
I thought the headline said “penises” rather than “pensions”.
Imagine my disappointment when I re-read it!
lol. In flynn’s case determining a starting point could prove tricky!
Could set a dangerous precedent.
yeah. potential sanctions for wrongdoing and corruption. now there’s a precedent I could live with!
The dangerous precedent has already been set. It’s time we right a wrong. It’s unacceptable that corrupt politicians continue to receive money from the public purse. The very credibility of our democracy is at stake.
Chelseajoe @
What kind of ”dangerous precedent” ?
????
If it’s the only thing this FG/labour do they get my vote next time round
I won’t be holding my breath! Even this disengenuous statement from a Labour minister is part of the lie factory!
That would be a YES.NO MORE TO BE SAID.
“Jaysus lad, sure if you did that none of us would end up with a pension yeah gobshite ‘nother pint Padder”-overheard in the dail bar today
“Pensions of corrupt politicians ‘could be cut off’ Oh look, flying pigs have just passed my 7th floor office window along with a unicorn and the tooth fairy! There is about as much chance of any of these corrupt gombeens having their pensions stopped by the current cabal of corrupt gombeens as their is of Ireland putting a man on the moon. Ahern may not have been branded corrupt by the Mahon tribunal but they did call him a liar and the fact that they could not get to the bottom of where his money actually came from does not let him off the hook, if he refuses to tell the truth then he should by default be branded corrupt because he is obviously hiding the facts and he knows perfectly well where his dodgy money came from. Flynn is bang to rights and his corruption is undeniable as was Lawlor’s, Burke’s and the other criminals. All public pensions SHOULD be stopped immediately for these criminals but it won’t happen because there isn’t a will to do so from the likes of Kenny, Gilmore or any of the other ministers or party honchos who hold the power, after all since when do turkey’s vote for christmas!
A few other things should be cut off as well as the pension
have your say