No cash for Harney in new role… but she’s already the €1m woman

FORMER tánaiste Mary Harney may not be getting paid in her new role as chancellor at the University of Limerick, but she can at least fall back on her double State pension and a string of board appointments.

Ms Harney has been entitled to almost €1m in pension and lump sum payments since she left politics in 2011. Aged just 64, the former PD leader has been in receipt of a pension from both the Oireachtas and Department of Finance for seven years already.

According to the most recently available figures, her combined pension is now worth around €117,000 annually. That is made up of a €53,291 payment from the Oireachtas for her 30 years as a TD and a four-year stint as a senator. She also receives a ministerial pension worth €63,877 from the department for her ministerial roles and for serving as tánaiste.

Although no figures for 2017 have yet been released, her entitlement for the year should have been the same as in 2016.

Ms Harney walked away from politics in 2011 with €174,000 – made up of a pension lump sum worth €158,730 and a separate ‘termination lump sum’ of €16,404. Her pension and lump sum payment entitlements since her departure from day-today politics have been worth just over €986,000.

Ms Harney was back in the public eye this week after she was appointed chancellor of UL and chair of its governing authority. The college has been embroiled in a string of controversies over misspending, poor human resources practices and how it dealt with whistleblowers.

College embroiled in controversies