While attention last week focused on the revelation that former minister Michael Woods stood to gain 75,000 in backdated pension payments through a special provision in legislation, the issue of whether serving politicians should be paid ministerial pensions has been largely forgotten.

Twenty years ago, it was a core policy of the new PD party to end such payments, and two of its TDs . . . leader Des O'Malley and Bobby Molloy . . . refused to accept their ministerial pensions, worth IR�8,800 a year and IR�7,100 respectively.

The decision was taken in October 1987 after the PDs introduced a Private Members Bill to stop ministerial pensions being paid to sitting TDs and senators. However, the two accepted the payments a number of years later and the party has long since dropped its opposition.

But, if anything, the issue is far more relevant today than it was in the 1980s when TDs were not particularly well paid. Nowadays, between a salary of roughly 100,000, expenses of around half that again and extra stipends from committee work, it is possible for a former minister to earn the equivalent of almost 200,000 a year and still be entitled to a ministerial pension worth tens of thousands of extra euro.

Big pay outs on top of income The government's finance accounts for 2006 show that last year 34 then sitting TDs and Senators were in receipt of ministerial pensions, earning an average of 15,143 on top of their Oireachtas income.

The largest ministerial pension paid to a serving politician went to Mary O'Rourke, then a member of the Seanad, but who was since returned to the Dail in May's General Election.

O'Rourke earned an additional 50,873 on top of her Oireachtas salary. Next in the list were long-serving former ministers Michael Smith and Joe Walsh, who were paid 48,574 and 46,889 respectively on top of their Dail wages. Walsh did not stand in the recent general election, while Smith also retired from politics after losing his seat in Tipperary North.

Michael Woods, who was at the centre of attention last week, received just 8,372 . . . a very small amount, given his tour of duty in government which dates back to Charlie Haughey's time as taoiseach.

Opposition leader Enda Kenny, who was a senior minister in the last Rainbow government, earned 14,177 while his predecessor as Fine Gael leader, Michael Noonan . . . a cabinet minister in both the 1980s and the mid-1990s . . . received 28,808.

Every party benefits Other Fine Gael TDs who were in receipt of a pension last year included Jim O'Keeffe ( 17,877), Richard Bruton ( 13,321), Paul Connaughton ( 16,189), and Gay Mitchell, Bernard Allen and Jimmy Deenihan (all 5,518).

Former finance minister and onetime Labour Party leader Ruairi Quinn received a pension payment of 41,906 for his times in cabinet in the 1980s and '90s. Michael D Higgins, who was arts minister from 1992 to 1997, got 17,845.

Other Labour TDs to benefit include one-time junior ministers Joan Burton ( 7,768), Liz McManus ( 5,518), Eamon Gilmore ( 5,514) and Emmet Stagg ( 7,763). No explanation is given in the account as to why McManus earned 4 more in a pension last year than Gilmore, given they were both junior ministers for the same length of time.

Of the eight PD TDs and four senators in Leinster House last year, only Liz O'Donnell . . . a junior minister between 1997 and 2002 . . . was entitled to a ministerial pension and she received 3,864 in 2006.

Fianna Fail TDs and senators to benefit include Jim McDaid . . . a cabinet minister for five years and a junior minister for a short period afterwards . . . who got 10,921. Eoin Ryan, who quit the Dail in May to concentrate on the European Parliament, was paid 5,304 for his three-year stint as a minister of state.

Former junior minister Joe Jacob, who retired from politics at the last election, got 13,642, while Senator Terry Leyden, another former junior minister, received 19,531. Cork deputy Dan Wallace, who retired from politics at the last election, earned an additional 9,558 from his pension.

Under the pension terms, a person with at least two years' service in a ministerial office qualifies for a pension. While pensions are not normally payable until the person concerned reaches 55, a former minister aged between 50 and 55 can claim a discounted pension.

Rise in ministerial salaries Under new pension arrangements introduced in 1993, there is some restriction on serving politicians drawing down their ministerial pension. Pensions are now "abated" . . . to use the Department of Finance's term . . . by one-half "for as long as the recipient remains in the Dail, Seanad or European Parliament".

However, the rise in ministerial salaries over the past decade and an increase in the percentage of income that a former minister is entitled to in pension payments more than compensates for this.

The amount of pension to which a politician is entitled is directly linked to the length of time he or she spends in ministerial office. Two or three years in office entitles the minister to 20% of salary, increasing to 60% for 10 or more years. Seven members of the current cabinet have passed the 10year mark in senior ministerial office and qualify for 60% pensions once they cease being ministers (although, of course, half will be "abated" for as long as they are in the Dail).

Recalling her father's decision to refuse his ministerial pension on Newstalk 106's Lunchtime with Eamon Keane last week, Fiona O'Malley said her mother "was amazed about it. . .

She had to rear six children and it was at a time when politicians weren't well paid. He didn't take it but he was still taxed on getting it, so he was in a very negative situation." And, it seems, a very rare one.