The Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has confirmed that the current Government have set aside a staggering budget of €14 million to pay for so called “termination allowances” and pensions of TDs and Senators who retire or are “involuntarily terminated” at next spring’s General Election.
The news of the highly expensive severance package comes after Mr Howlin revealed that a budget of €360 million has already put in place for the running of the Dáil and Seanad over the next three years. Mr Howlin says €131 million will be made available or next year, with €120 million in 2017, whilst a further €118 million will be made available for 2018.
The Fine Gael TD also said the €14 million severance will adequately cover the “payments of termination allowances and pensions for former Dáil members and secretarial assistants”. Mr Howlin added: “Clearly, we cannot be exactly prescriptive about how many people will be voluntarily or involuntarily terminated, to adopt the unfortunate word that is used in these circumstances.”