Bertie Ahern's free car and travel allowance

BoyRacer · December 13, 2009, 11:14am

Bertie Ahern’s free car and travel allowance -> timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w … 954634.ece

He has a state car and driver to ferry him around Dublin and yet Bertie Ahern has also been paid a “constituency travel allowance” since he stood down as taoiseach.

This year Ahern will be paid €2,500 travel expenses, the same amount as other TDs in geographically small constituencies. This is on top of his annual salary as a deputy, cut last week to €92,500 a year, and his pension as a former taoiseach, which is €83,250.

The subject of Ahern’s entitlements was discussed among civil servants before he stood down in May 2008. A memo, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveals that at least one official reckoned he was not entitled to a travel allowance.

“As the taoiseach, when he retires from that office, will retain a state car would he be entitled to the daily allowance of €61.53 or the constituency travel allowance of €2,745 [a year, since cut to €2,500]?” one official asked the Department of Finance in April 2008.

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