Liam Cosgrave
Former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave pictured with Enda Kenny at last year's 9/11 commemoration.
Cosgrave has largely retired from public life since he left politics in the eighties.
Liam Cosgrave (and Bertie Ahern)
Former Taoisigh Liam Cosgrave and Bertie Ahern pictured in 2006.
Cosgrave last year gifted his ministerial pension for 2011, a total of €133,023.62.
Liam Cosgrave
Cosgrave pictured at the 50th anniversary of Fine Gael in 1983. He was born in 1920 and served as Taoiseach from 1973 - 1977. He was a TD from 1943 to 1981.
Albert Reynolds
Former Fianna Fail Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, right, with his brother Jim Reynolds in February 2012.
Reynolds was Taoiseach from 1992 to 1994. He retired as a TD in 2002 and received a pension of €149,740.29 last year.
Albert Reynolds
Reynolds launched his autobiography in 2009. Here he is pictured with his grandson Charlie (15 months) and Heidi (6) at the launch
Albert Reynolds (and Bertie Ahern)
Former Taoisigh Reynolds and Ahern pictured at the removal of Government Minister Seamus Brennan.
Reynolds has a connection with Pakistan in his post-Taoiseach years. He struck up a relationship with then president of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf and acted as an intermediary between Musharraf and the US government. In 2005 he represented Ireland at a conference in the wake of the Pakistan earthquake tragedy
Albert Reynolds
President of Ireland Mary McAleese meets with former Fianna Fail Taoiseach Albert Reynolds at Aras an Uachtarain in November 2011.
In 2008 Reynolds was declared medically unfit to give evidence at the Mahon Tribunal due to cognitive impairment.
John Bruton
John Bruton pictured at the Mahon Tribunal in 2006.
Bruton was Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997 and also served as Minister for Finance and Minister for Industry, Trade Commerce and Tourism. From 2004 - 2009 he was the ambassador of the EU to the US, and also served as vice-president of the European People's Party.
John Bruton
Former Taoiseach John Bruton at the Moriarty Tribunal in 2004.
Bruton resigned from the Dáil in 2004 to take up the position of EU ambassador to the US. In 2009 he expressed his interest in becoming the president of the European Council, but lost out to Herman Van Rompuy.
John Bruton
In 2012, Bruton joined the campaign for the European Stability Fiscal Treaty.
Bruton was approached by Fine Gael in 2011 with the possibility of becoming their presidential candidate, but he declined. He is the chairman of IFSC Ireland and receives a ministerial pension of €141,849.27.
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern pictured in an Irish pub in Beijing in 1998. He served as Taoiseach from 1997 until his resignation in May 2008 in the wake of revelations made in the Mahon Tribunal.
He receives a ministerial pension of €152,331.67.
Bertie Ahern
Ahern published his autobiography in 2009. Here he is with his daughters Cecilia and Georgina.
Ahern earned around half-a-million euro in 2009 from speaking arrangements. In the wake of the publication of the Mahon report earlier this year, his profile was removed from two prominent public speaking websites.
Bertie Ahern
In 2012 Bertie Ahern appeared in a TV ad promoting his sports column in the News of the World, where he was depicted hiding in a cupboard.
Bertie Ahern
Artwork in Dublin by Will St Leger.
Bertie Ahern resigned from Fianna Fáil in March of this year in the wake of the Mahon Tribunal report. One of his first public appearances after he tendered his resignation was delivering a keynote speech at an investors' forum in Nigeria.
Bertie Ahern
In June it was reported that former Taoisigh like Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen would could see their pensions cut under new proposed pension reforms.
Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Brian Cowen
Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen with former President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin.
Cowen was Taoiseach from May 2008 to March 2011. He had resigned as leader of Fianna Fáil on 22 January 2011, but stayed on as the country's leader until the general election.
He received a pension of €151,061.77 in 2011.
Brian Cowen
Dissolution of the 30th Dail. An Taoiseach Brian Cowen waves goodbye to the media as he leaves Government Buildings on his way to formally hand in his resignation to the President.
Brian Cowen
In a speech delivered at Georgetown University in Washington in March 2012, Brian Cowen said that the onset of the 2008 economic crisis was like a series of plane crashes occurring at once.
Brian Cowen
In September 2011 the Irish Independent reported that Cowen has been enjoying catching up with friends, watching sport, attending local functions and reading.
Yesterday it was reported that Cowen was taking part in a €47,000 course for executives at Stanford University in California.
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