Due to a provision in the Landsdowne Road agreement on public sector pay, former ministers and taoisigh are to get an increase in their pensions.
Ahern and Cowen who currently receive around €134,000 a year will have their salary rise by an extra €2000 over the next three years.
Defending the matter, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin said: “We introduced further pension cuts, on top of the ones introduced by Fianna Fáil, and pay cuts for those over €65,000”.