Labour TD Emmet Stagg has said that he is to give up his ministerial pension following the decison by European Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn to forego her Dail and ministerial pensions.
Mr Stagg, a former junior transport minister, received the pension on top of his TD's salary of around €96,000.
Mr Stagg had initially said that he was holding on to his ministerial pension, which was worth €5,720 to him last year. "It's €56 a week and it won't make a difference one way or another," he insisted.
However following pressure from within the Labour Party, and the announcement last night that Ms Geoghegan-Quinn was to donate her ministerial pension and her Dail pension to the State, Mr Stagg has decided to forego his ministerial pension.
Speaking to RTE last night, Mr Stagg insisted he had not broken any regulations in accepting his ministerial pension.
"The system was that if you retired as a minister you were paid a pension," he said.
"The amount that I get is so small that it certainly won't affect the national finances."
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, deputy leader Joan Burton, Pat Rabbitte, Liz McManus and Dublin MEP Proinsias De Rossa have already given up their ministerial pensions.
Labour TD Michael D Higgins has said he is giving up his ministerial pension at the end of this year.
The Irish Independent
