A former special advisor to a minister in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) received an exit package worth more than €100,000 in 2020 according to latest published figures.
The special advisor received a severance package worth €85,358.01 and a redundancy payout of €15,876 to result in a total exit package worth €101,234.01 in 2020.
Another former special advisor to a minister in DAFM also received an exit package totalling €83,608.15 in the same year, the figures show.
The two exit packages paid out to the special advisors in 2020 were the largest of all the individual severance and redundancy payments made to former DAFM staff between 2016 to 2024.
Labour Party TD, Alan Kelly, had asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to “list all staff/management exit packages for staff/management in their departments that they sanctioned since 2016”.
According to Minister Charlie McConalogue, his department “facilitates severance and redundancy payments” in accordance with the terms set out by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.
Details of the exit payments to former DAFM staff comes amid the ongoing spotlight on exit packages for senior public sector executives.
Exit payments
According to figures supplied to Deputy Kelly, the largest exit payment in 2016 was to a former personal secretary to the minister who received a severance payment of €63,113.10 and a redundancy payment of €21,648, which amounted to a total €84,761.10.
This was in comparison to the lowest severance payment to a minister’s former civilian driver which totalled €4,467.87 in the same year.
DAFM paid out more than €160,000 in total severance and redundancy payments in 2016.
The majority of severance and redundancy payments for former DAFM staff between the years 2016 to 2024 were paid out in 2020 according to the latest figures
In 2023 there was one severance and redundancy payment made to a minister’s civilian driver which amounted to €8,179.18.