JAMES HAMILTON who retired on Monday as director of public prosecutions is to receive a net pension lump sum of €319,315.
Mr Hamilton will also receive an annual pension of €114,840.
The figures were revealed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in an answer to a parliamentary question by Fine Gael TD for Dublin Mid-West Derek Keating.
Mr Kenny said Mr Hamilton, who was in the job for 12 years, will not receive a bonus or any other payment. Mr Hamilton acknowledged in July, when he announced that he was stepping down, that one of the factors influencing his decision to leave was to protect his pension, ahead of changes to pension tax rules which come into force next year.
According to the information released last night, his gross salary at retirement was €215,590, but he had made a voluntary gift to the Minister for Finance, which had the effect of reducing his annual salary to €200,000.
Details of the pension arrangements for the former director of public prosecutions emerged just hours after the Government announced significant changes to pension arrangements for top-level staff appointed in the Civil Service and in local authorities in the future.
Mr Howlin has previously vowed to overhaul the system which saw civil servants retiring under the terms of the top-level appointments committee (TLAC).
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said the Government would end current arrangements under which secretaries general in government departments could retire early with immediate pension and have added years provided for pension purposes in addition to a special severance payment.
However, the Minister said the new terms would be reviewed after 12 months “to see that they are effective in attracting the desired candidates”.
The Minister said for secretaries general appointed in the future there will be no added years; no pension payable prior to the minimum pension age; offers of alternative posts will be made where secretaries general were from the Civil Service and did not have 40 years of service and had not reached minimum pension age; and no severance pay, except in the case where a person was not of minimum pension age or had not been offered an alternative post – in such cases severance of up to one year’s salary would apply.
The Minister said no severance payment would be made in cases where a person was offered an alternative post and refused to take up the position. He said the Government’s actions would “result in substantial savings for the taxpayers”.
However, he said that on legal advice the Government would not be able to change pension arrangements in place for serving secretaries general.
In a briefing for political correspondents last night, Mr Howlin said: “I didn’t know anything about top-level appointments committee terms when I went into the department.” He was unaware that, “from 1987, such a thing as TLAC terms applied to secretaries general, who were appointed for a fixed term”.
He added that, obviously, this innovation was intended “to attract younger people in”, rather than the normal process whereby secretaries general “were appointed and then stayed for life until they reached retirement age”. He added: “Because of the escalation of salaries over the period of time it was clear when most recent figures retired from their position or ended their fixed term, the package was far too generous and needed to be addressed.”