Tag Archives: Senators

From top: Leinster House; Ken Foxe

Yesterday.

In The Business Post.

Rachel Lavin reported:

The details of lump sum payments and pensions made to TDs and senators leaving office will no longer be made public, an internal review by the Oireachtas has decided.

The move comes after the Information Commissioner ruled in April that the public release of the pensions paid to former taoisigh, presidents and ministers would involve a “significant breach” of their privacy.

The Oireachtas review has now extended this interpretation to outgoing TDs and senators, concluding that their right to privacy now trumps the public interest when it comes to publishing the details of their termination and pension pay, even though the money involved comes from public funds.

The decision means “hundreds of thousands of euros in termination pay will now go unscrutinised” Ken Foxe, a journalist and Freedom of Information (FOI) campaigner said.

Politicians’ golden handshakes no longer subject to FOI (Sunday Business Post, Rachel Lavin)

Previously7: Who Took This Decision?

 Dublin Institute of Technology lecturer, journalist, FOI sleuth and founder of investigative news site Noteworthy and Right To Know, Ken Foxe tweetz:

“Here’s another unusual ‘quirk’ from the ‘clock-in’ system for TDs & Senators. Even though they’ve only to record attendance for 120 days a year, they get paid for 150 overnights.”

TAA?

Related: Why do TDs living a relatively short drive from work in commuter towns get €15,000-a-year in “accommodation” expenses? (Ken Foxe, 2016)

Journalist and lecturer Ken Foxe, founder of investigative news site Noteworthy, sought details of the pensions paid to all former constitutional/ministerial/judicial office holders in 2017 and 2018.

But the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform refused to give Mr Foxe a detailed breakdown – saying the individuals’ right to privacy outweighed the public interest.

Instead, the department released the total amount paid and the number of people within each group who received pensions (see tables above for amounts paid in 2017 and 2018).

Mr Foxe is reporting that that this is the first time the State has refused to give a detailed breakdown of the pensions paid.

He’s also reporting that, up until 2016, details of how much former taoisigh, presidents, and ministers “were published as a matter of routine on the Department of Finance website” but this ended in 2017 due to GDPR rules.

Mr Foxe will be appealing the decision.

€28 million in pension payments to former TDs, Senators and government ministers over the past two years (Noteworthy)

Ken Foxe

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Nobody can stop them.

A TD or Senator has run up significant bills by making dozens of expensive calls to a single African number yet confidentiality rules prohibit the Oireachtas from finding out who is responsible.
Records released by the Oireachtas show that the Kenyan mobile was the destination number for 38 out of the 100 most expensive calls during late 2011 and 2012.
In 2013, the number of calls to the phone reduced somewhat, but it still remained responsible for 16 out of the 100 most expensive calls made that year.
Authorities at Leinster House are powerless to contact the politician’s office responsible to ask them to cut down the cost or to use a free service like Skype.
They have however, been able to contact the owner of the Kenyan mobile number but have said they are prohibited by law from finding out what TD or Senator is responsible.

Anyone?

Politician’s €2,000 bill in calls to one Kenyan mobile phone (RTÉ)

Part of an eye-popping haul of parliamentary expenses garnered by Ken Foxe at the RTÉ Investigations Unit.

View the full database here

90299662The Fine Gael Parliamentary meeting in Leinster House from Kildare Street last night.

Lucinda Creighton FG
Brian Walsh FG
Damien English FG
Peter Mathews FG
Terence Flanagan FG
Billy Timmins FG
Paul Bradford FG Senator
John O’Mahony FG
Michelle Mulherin FG (above)
John Paul Phelan FG
Michael Creed FG
Patrick O’Donovan FG
Tom Hayes FG
Jim Daly FG
Sean Conlan FG
Fidelma Healy Eames FG Senator
Catherine Noone FG Senator
James Bannon FG
Paschal Mooney FF
Brian O’Domhnaill FF
Jim Walsh FF
Mattie McGrath Ind
Ronan Mullen Ind Senator

(TDs unless othwerwise stated)

Sido writes:

With regard to the “emotional debate” within FG I’m compiling a list of politicians who oppose the Abortion Legislation. I wonder if anyone can think of any additions?

 

Earlier It’s All Gone A Bit Emily Brontë

(Laura Hutton/Photocall ireland)