FORMER FINE Gael leader Alan Dukes took a €100,000 reduction in his fees for chairing Anglo Irish Bank because he is receiving Dáil and ministerial pensions, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has said.
Mr Lenihan approved an annual fee of €250,000 for Mr Dukes in his new role of chairman of the bank. Mr Dukes had decided on a reduced salary of €150,000 on his appointment. “The amount waived is more or less equivalent to his Dáil and ministerial pension,” said Mr Lenihan.
The information came to light as a result of parliamentary questions tabled by Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd asking for details of former ministers who have been appointed to boards of State bodies and State-owned companies. Mr Dukes’s combined ministerial and Oireachtas pension is €99,470. He had been paid fees of almost €100,000 as a Government-appointed director of the bank, before becoming chairman.
Mr Dukes was also appointed by the Minister for Agriculture, as chair of the AgriVision 2015 committee during 2004 and received €22,000 for his services in participating and drafting the report.
Former Fianna Fáil minister for agriculture Joe Walsh is a Government-appointed director of Bank of Ireland and received €80,000 in fees in 2009. His combined Dáil and ministerial pension is worth €127,000 per annum.
According to the reply received by Mr O’Dowd, Mr Walsh was also appointed to the Government’s hunger taskforce in 2007 and received fees and expenses of €11,662. He also claimed mileage of €3,000 while chairman for four years of the Irish Horse Board Co-operative Society.
Former Labour leader Dick Spring got €26,000 in fees in 2009 as a public interest director of AIB in addition to his pension of almost €130,000; and former minister for finance Ray MacSharry got €69,000 from Irish Life and Permanent, in addition to his combined pension of almost €94,000.
In his reply to Mr O’Dowd’s parliamentary question, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said two former ministers, David Andrews and Michael O’Kennedy, were appointed by him to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Both receive pensions of more than €110,000.
Mr Andrews earned €86,970 from the tribunal in 2008. Mr O’Kennedy, who retired that year, earned over €300,000 from his work for the tribunal over six years. He has also been chairman of the Family Support Agency for seven years, for which he receives moderate expenses.
Former FF minister Gerard Collins has been a board member of the Dublin Airport Authority since November 2009 and receives annual fees of €15,750. He is also on the board of the National Museum, for which he receives annual fees of about €6,000.
Former Progressive Democrat minister Robert Molloy was appointed to Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) five years ago. His cumulative fees and expenses are €25,000.
Former FF minister Hugh Byrne was chairman of BIM for almost three years until 2006. He received total fees of almost €30,000. His travel expenses were €68,000 between 2003 and 2006.