A middling SF Cumann on the Louth Armagh birder would snigger at the buttons mentioned above
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Hard to know - may have undercounted assets but they havenât got any liabilities included so that overestimates net worth i.e. peoples mortgages on that as far as I know. Many people in Dublin live in âexpensiveâ houses but theyâve a hell of a lot of debt too
As @Horsebox points out - itâs the size of the pension pots that jumps off the page for me
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True but on a TD/ministers salary + expenses you should not have too much bother covering repayments.
Pensions worth more than 2 million
How much would a teachers pension be worth relative to a TD?
Would you hit a mil with 40 years service?
Sure. But if you own a âŹ700k house and have a âŹ500k mortgage it isnât the repayment capacity that determines your net worth - itâs the difference between the two i.e. youâre worth âŹ200k
The article seems to just include the âŹ700k bit
Iâd still see it as youâre worth 700k. They would hardly default on it unless theyâre a dope.
Also possible that a lot of those TDs who have properties like that either bought them some time ago, inherited or were able to pay for quite a fair chunk of it up front with a deposit or other âdonationsâ.
Fair to say some of those properties might also be generating an income of their own.
With the AVCâs they would
Real Celtic Tiger logic there alright
Theyâre are definitely not worth 700k in the example I gave. Maybe in the future when theyâve paid down all the debt.
Your second point is correct though. In some cases the property would have no debt on it and in others it would be heavily debt-laden.
These things matter.
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Like thinking a lad driving around a leased 21 reg car is loaded âŚ
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I would argue they are. They arenât going to lose that property unless they default on the loan which is unlikely given their salary. It would be different if they had no rights to the asset but they do and have a contract that entitles them to all rights when repayments are fulfilled which they more than have the means to.
A car loses its value. Property generally appreciates in value.
Thatâs a fair point. They donât need to disclose debt which is fair. This investigation also leaves out other savings/investments that are not clearly in the public domain. Would I be correct in saying this is just based on property owned (home and rental) and public pension pot?
A kleptocracy
The pensions that politicians get is some three card trick pulled on Irish public. They can also claim them from 50 on.
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indeed they do, the register of interests is worthless without having their liabilities listed.
a list like that wouldve made very interesting reading at the time of the bailout
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A minister pension would cost about 4 million to buy. Of course youâd not be allowed buy it and would be clobbered with tax if pension pot was over 2.2m
Brendan Howlin took a career break from teaching when he went for the DĂĄil around 30-40 years ago! Would he be due a teacherâs pension as well as the TD and ministerial ones heâd have?
yes
enda kenny was due 30k a year and a 100k lump sum when he retired in spite of having only taught for 4 years
Paddy C (who I think is a complete dick) made the point on Twitter over the weekend that disclosing the liabilities is nearly more important than disclosing the assets due to possible conflicts of interest. Iâd tend to agree.
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