Clare TDs have said findings from a political rich list which reported that two of them were millionaires are “misleading”.
The Irish Independent published its political rich list this week following a two month investigation. It detailed that of the 162 TDs, 68 of them were millionaires, this compares with 73 millionaires in the last Dáil term.
Figures from the report show that the county’s four TDs are worth a combined €2,610,798 with both Deputy Michael McNamara (IND) and Deputy Joe Carey (FG) included among the 68 millionaires.
McNamara ranks as the 62nd wealthiest TD in the Dáil with a worth of €1,085,046. Of this, €774,186 is for property and lands while €310,860 is for his TD pension.
As the county’s longest serving TD, Carey features as the 67th wealthiest member of Dáil Éireann valued at €1,024,616. His time in Leinster House is set to see him take home a pension worth €689,616 with his property and lands valued at €335,000.
In the Dáil for eighteen months, Cathal Crowe (FF) is 113th on the list with a total of €463,980. Property and lands of the Meelick man are worth an estimated €422,136 while his pension is calculated at €41,844.
Fellow first-time TD, Violet-Anne Wynne (SF) is deemed to be the 158th wealthiest of the 162 TDs. Her pension is totted up at €37,156 while no property or lands are owned by the Kilrush woman.
None of the Clare TDs are listed at having any financial benefits from involvements with businesses or shares.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Deputy McNamara confirmed that all his property was located in East Clare, with the majority of it agricultural land. “Farmers are rich in assets but their income doesn’t match this.,” he stated. The Scariff man believed findings with regard to his projected pension were inaccurate, “the very generous pension regime that once existed for TDs does not apply for TDs like myself first elected in 2011. Instead we become entitled to a pension at the normal retirement age and that pension, set at half a TD’s salary takes twenty years to earn. So as it stands I’m entitled to a sixth of a TD’s salary when I reach retirement age”.
“It is important that politicians declare their assets but it is equally important that senior civil servants who have huge power and seem to be making a lot of the decisions do the same. What about RTÉ journalists getting paid by the public exchequer. It is a bit of an easy thing to do to whip out, why focus exclusively on politicians, why not journalists,” McNamara added.
Figures put forward were labelled “misleading” by Deputy Carey. “For example in my case they calculate a pension entitlement which I have accrued since my election to Dáil Éireann but which I will not receive for another twenty years as I will need to be 66 years old and retired to be eligible to receive a full taxable pension which is currently worth approximately €35,000 per year. The accrued pension figure is also based on an assumption that I will live until I’m nearly one hundred years old. Then they add the value which they have placed on my family home, which my wife and I own and are paying a mortgage on to arrive at their figure”.
Carey confirmed to The Clare Echo that the lands owned valued at €335,000 are for his family home in Clarecastle and the three quarter acre site that it is built on. “I don’t own any other lands or property,” he said.
According to Deputy Crowe, “the findings are not accurate”. He said he owns land near his parents home in Meelick and admitted to being “utterly confused” by how pensions were calculated for the investigation. “I’ve been a TD for eighteen months, I certainly haven’t accrued a pension”.
“I think the annual publishing of the rich list, yes there are rich people in the Dáil, I certainly am not one of them, I think it is evasive politics. I have to declare each year that my wife is a teacher which I think there is no need for. I am certainly not a millionaire. I acknowledge it is a very well paid job,” Crowe added.
Deputy Wynne said of the report, “It’s not something I would have given thought to, I take people at face value”. She admitted that it was shocking to see some politicians in Ireland with a net worth in excess of €6.1m which reflected the comments of some politicians not reflecting the “on the ground experience” of the public. The inclusion of Sinn Féin President, Mary Lou McDonald among the 68 millionaires was among the talking points nationally, “she’s in politics many years, I didn’t give much thought to the property she would have”.
