Ministers who fail to repay overpayments will lose pensions

Serving and former ministers who do not pay back money that was overpaid to them by mistake will not receive their pensions, a Government minister has said.

Last June it emerged around 13,000 current and former civil servants and ministers were to have their pension deductions assessed for possible anomalies.

During Tuesday’s Leader’s Questions Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty asked why 10 current ministers and 17 former ministers had yet to pay back excess payments, claiming some of them were overpaid “tens of thousands of euro”.

He said: “This isn’t the Government’s money, it’s not the department’s money, but it’s the public’s money, it is taxpayers’ money.

“And the shocking thing is, the public only came to learn about this yesterday after my questioning of Minister Chambers in the finance committee.”

Responding on behalf of the Government, Peter Burke said some of the delays were because: “A number of clarifications have been sought in relation to the calculations that were brought forward.

“I absolutely know that everyone has a right to ensure that they are paying the correct amount.”

The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment also added: “The Government is crystal clear that any retired civil servant or minister who does not comply or pay back what is due to the exchequer will not receive their pension, because this is a key requirement in following your pension.”

He said overpayments and underpayments had come about through an “administrative error” by the National Shared Services Office (NSSO), a body which provides administrative services for government departments and public service bodies.

Mr Burke said a review was being carried out into the issue by the NSSO’s chairperson to “ensure that something like this does not happen again”.