Introducing legislation to abolish ministerial pensions for serving Oireachtas members has been ruled out by Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
He said in the Dáil this afternoon he would not accept a Fine Gael Bill, proposing an immediate end to the practice, because the Attorney General's advice was that it would be unconstitutional.
Mr Cowen said that there was no question of a reluctance on the part of the Government to deal with the issue.
"It is a question of the Government having to propose legislation that is lawful," he added.
Urging the Taoiseach to accept his party's Bill, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said that politics was a profession which had "taken a beating on many fronts, some justified and some not".
He added that he had never accepted that it was unconstitutional to legislate to put an end the payment of ministerial pensions to persons serving in the Oireachtas.
Mr Kenny said that if the Government voted down the Bill, Fine Gael recipients of ministerial pensions in the Oireachtas would voluntarily give them up or give them to charity.