Greens seek pension cap

The Green Party has called for a pension cap of €75,000 to be introduced for retiring ministers and civil servants.

The Green Party has called for a pension cap of €75,000 to be introduced for retiring ministers and civil servants.

The party’s finance spokesman Dan Boyle said this morning that public anger had "justifiably been fuelled by the size of severance packages being given to retiring ministers and high ranking civil servants".

Some ministers will leave office with an annual pension of over €120,000 and a severance package worth in excess of €300,000.

“The Green Party believes that such pensions should be capped at a rate of no more than twice the average industrial wage,” Mr Boyle said this morning.

He said such a pension cap “would remain a generous payment and still be an appropriate recognition for service undertaken on behalf of the State”.

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Conor Pope

Conor Pope

Conor Pope is Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Pricewatch Editor