Ireland's outgoing member of the European Commission Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has said that she does not know what happens now to the six-figure ministerial and Oireachtas pensions that she gifted to the State upon taking office.
The Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science said she had gifted her two pensions to the State soon after she took up the post in 2010.
She said she had had "a great five years" in Brussels and had been "very well paid".
When asked if she would seek to reactivate her pensions now that her commission job was over, she said she had "no idea" what happened now.
When she gave up her pensions, it was reported at the time that she was doing so for the duration of her commission term.
Her pensions from the State were worth around €108,000 a year, while her gross salary as a European Commissioner is just under €250,000.
Ms Geoghegan-Quinn was speaking at an event in Washington, where she received an award for Transatlantic Leadership from the European Institute.
She said that she would not be returning to politics, but was going to take six months off and spend time with her grandchild.
She said she might write a book about her time in public life, but joked that some people "would have to be dead" before she would be able to publish her memoirs.
Ms Geoghegan-Quinn stated categorically that she would not be going back into politics and would not be taking a role in public life, but if there was a way for her to make a contribution she would.
She said she had been very privileged and lucky for the professional life that she had led to date and was thankful for it.
The former minister said she had "achieved a lot" and had "got a lot of opportunity" from every single leader of the party that she had worked for "from Jack Lynch down".
