PAT KENNY’S PENSION

Broadcaster Pat Kenny’s pension fund has been hammered by the collapse in global property markets and Irish banking shares, he told The Sunday Times.

Kenny, 62, is an independent contractor and does not have an RTE pension to fall back on.

“My pension, like everyone else’s, has been devastated,” he said. “We were all told property and shares were safe places to invest. There is virtually no-one who has not lost out.”

Kenny and Gay Byrne are joint investors in one project that will be taken over by NAMA later this year. They invested in the Four Seasons hotel in Budapest as part of a syndicate put together by financier Derek Quinlan. That syndicate now owes Anglo Irish Bank €30m.

He also invested in AIB and Bank of Ireland shares for many years.

“They were prudent investments. I tried to spread the risk around and, lo and behold, you get caught.”

Meanwhile, The Sunday Independent highlights one group of “retirees” who won’t have too many financial worries. Four TDs who have declared their intention not to stand at the next election – Tom Kitt, Mary Upton, Liz McManus and Olwyn Enright – will share a lump-sum payment plus pension worth around €12m.

Under the current system, the four will receive a termination allowance equivalent to two months’ salary. They will then receive a further €36,906 over the next six months followed by payments between €20,000 and €32,000 until the termination payment runs out. A total of €1.1m.

Based on current pay levels, they will each receive a tax-free pension lump sum of €147,636 and then every month for the rest of their lives those with more than 20 years’ service will receive half of their current annual salary of €98,000.

Nice work if you can get it.