Ahern defends his pension of €135,000

FORMER TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has defended his State pension of approximately €135,000 and said he had worked for it for 40 years.

Mr Ahern said he had taken a reduction both in his taoiseach’s salary and then in his pension.

RTÉ presenter Mike Murphy told him that he was “dressing beautifully these days, so well you might on the pension you have”.

Mr Ahern responded: “Listen, with all the criticism you take, I took a huge reduction in the salary before I left. I took the reduction in the pension, more than the average public service worker.”

He said he earned more than €300,000 over the time covered by the Mahon tribunal and he spent it on a mortgage on a house and other things. “I had to explain every penny to the tribunal about what I had to do,” he said.

He told Murphy in a television interview broadcast last night that he tried to pay back all the money lent to him by friends in the so-called “dig out”, but some did not accept it so he gave it to charity instead.

Mr Ahern again expressed his frustration at not being in charge during the economic crisis which occurred in autumn 2008 and afterwards.

He said he did not remember any economist telling him before that time period that there needed to be an investigation into the capitalisation of the banks, though they were “10-a-penny” now.

He retired in May 2008 before the global economic crisis began to have serious consequences for Ireland.

“I would have loved because of my experience to have been there for a few more years because I honestly believe, and it is not taking away from Brian Cowen or anybody else, that my experience of dealing with the currency crisis and being in finance, I could have played a key role in that,” he said.

He would have been far happier, he added, “in there, hands on in the crisis than out twiddling my thumbs”.