Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This week, an elderly couple came into my constituency office. One was 80 years of age and the other was 90. One of them was visually impaired. They were distressed because they had received a letter from the Health Service Executive to say their medical card was up for review, even though they were able to show the staff in my office that their card does not expire until 2015. The entitlement they thought they had was being snatched from them by the HSE as a result of the Government's austerity proposals.

That couple are not unique. Many couples and individuals have contacted my office about the same issue. The Government has brought tears to their eyes, as a result of the letters that have been issued in the last number of days. People are fearful of the next letter in the post. What entitlement will they lose and what extra payment will they be asked to make? For many people, such a letter will push them over the edge, financially. If the stress and strain of this was not enough, the same families turn on the television and see bankers and politicians, many of whom were involved in the destruction of the economy, and hear about the lavish pensions and lifestyles they still avail of, despite their hand in bankrupting the State. Mr. Brian Goggin, former chief executive of Bank of Ireland, gets an annual pension of €650,000. Mr. Eugene Sheehy, who is in the media, gets €529,000. I acknowledge that he has accepted a voluntary deduction, but it does not go far enough. Mr. Colm Doherty has a pension entitlement of €300,000 a year and Mr. Michael Fingleton was entitled to a pension pot of €28 million.

The list does not end there. Former Ministers and leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party are in receipt of large pensions, paid by the State.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is getting a pension of €152,000, former Tánaiste Dick Spring gets €121,000 and the former leader of Fine Gael, Alan Dukes, claims a ministerial pension of in excess of €94,000 on top of a Government salary of €150,000 as chairman of IBRC.

Even sitting politicians continue to claim pensions. In my own constituency, Fianna Fáil MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher continues to claim his ministerial pension of €70,000 on top of his MEP's salary of €91,000. Many of these people have not even reached retirement age. Many of them are in receipt of substantial incomes from public and private sources yet this Government allows them to be paid obscene pensions while ordinary people, like the couple I referred to at the start, are struggling to make ends meet.

Yesterday during the debate the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Brian Hayes, told us that there were legal and constitutional obstacles to clawing back some of these pensions. I challenge the Government here and now to publicly display the advice from the Attorney General that states that. I do not accept the problem is legal or constitutional, it is political. The problem is that the Government does not have the political will to take on the bankers and their excessive pensions because they are up to their necks in it themselves. The politicians had their noses in the trough and reaped the benefits until a number of years ago. How do I know that? We simply have to look at the facts. The Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, only gave up his ministerial pension in 2011. The current Taoiseach only gave up his ministerial pension in 2009 and the Minister for Finance still draws down his ministerial pension, although I acknowledge he has said it goes to charity. The reality is the Government was complicit in the idea of people who are working getting a double payment and availing of massive pensions. The Taoiseach himself for nine years drew down a ministerial pension while he sat in this House before he ever reached retirement age.

This is about political will and having the appetite to go after these people while leaving alone those poor individuals who cannot sleep at night because of the austerity measures this Government has imposed on them. The Government should let them be and go after the people who bankrupted the State and destroyed the economy. Those are the people referred to in this motion and the Government should be ashamed of itself for not having the political will or courage to go after them.

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