This article is from page 4 of the 2011-02-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE’S only retiring member of Dáil Éireann, Deputy Tony Killeen, is set to receive over a quarter of a million euro lump sum for his years of service in Leinster House, which also takes into account his time as being both a Minister of State and full member of Cabinet.
The lump sum pay-off to Fianna Fáil’s biggest vote-getter in Clare over the past two decades with 19 years Dáil service to his name is part of overall payments to retiring TDs, which is set to cost the Irish exchequer over € 10m during the next cou- ple of years.
Deputy Killeen will receive a € 276,163 once off payment for the 19 years he represented Clare in the Dáil, while his pension will be worth € 68,984 when it kicks in.
Deputy Killeen first entered political life when he was elected to Clare County Council in 1985. He retained his seat in the 1991 election and he served as both chairman of Clare County Council and the Shannon Status Committee before winning his Dáil seat in 1992 and retaining it in subsequent elections in 1997, 2002 and 2007.
Deputy Killeen’s distinction of holding down junior ministerial and full-ministerial portfolios over the past seven years will ensure that he will benefit from better pension terms than retiring deputies who were backbench TDs.
Under the pension structures for retiring TDs, former ministers are deemed to be office holders and are therefore paid an office holders’ allowance on top of their TDs salary.
Deputy Killeen was elevated to ministerial rank by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2004 when he was made Minister of State for Labour Affairs. After the 2007 election he became the first ever Minister of State for Environment and Energy, while in 2008 he became Minister of State for Fisheries and Forestry. His elevation to full Cabinet status came in 2010 when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach and made him Minister for Defence.
Deputy Killeen is one over 40 current Dáil deputies, who have announced their retirement ahead of the General Election, the most high profile of these being the man who appointed him to Cabinet, Taoiseach Brian Cowen.