According to the Irish Mirror, after departing Leinster House, political staff members who worked for TDs who resigned or lost their seats in the most recent election were given gold-plated redundancy settlements totalling more than €5.5 million, reports The Mirror.
For every year of service, 150 former employees were eligible for statutory redundancy compensation, which were equal to two weeks’ salary up to a maximum of €600, plus one bonus week.
They did, however, also earn discretionary payments—more than double their statutory entitlements—approved by the minister for public spending under the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) plan, reports The Mirror.
To achieve a specific decrease in the number of public servants, the program was first implemented in 2011. It has been used to increase political staff redundancy compensation at a rate set by the public expenditure minister before to the election.
In 2016, leaving employees received a VER package of four weeks’ salary for every year of service, which was more than double the statutory redundancy to which they were also due. Additionally, it stipulated a one-third incentive for service completed prior to March 2011, reports The Mirror.
TA parliamentary assistant hired by a TD in 2011 would have received over €25,000 in compensation if their TD had not been re-elected in 2016 due to the generous conditions of the redundancy package.
Based on a final salary of €46,558 after five years of employment, this would include €6,600 in statutory redundancy and a payout of around €18,000 under the VER plan, reports The Mirror.
Although the rate at which VER was distributed after the general election in November was not made public by the Houses of the Oireachtas Service, the aggregate numbers suggest that it may have been even more generous than in 2016.
The VER program handed out €3.3 million of the €4.4 million in redundancy payouts that year to 199 departing employees. Former TD and senatorial staff members were among them, reports The Mirror.
A greater redundancy pay-pot of more than €5.5 million has been split among 150 political staff members as of February 4, 2025.
The Irish Mirror received the numbers in accordance with freedom of information legislation. Citing each person’s right to privacy, the Houses of the Oireachtas Service declined to reveal specifics of individual payments.
Political personnel who worked for senators who retired or were not re-elected to the Seanad are not included in the most recent data since the deadline for redundancy applications has not yet passed, reports The Mirror.
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