Submission 171
Green Paper Submission
April 08
The current system, whereby people who have paid little or nothing into the State pension 'fund' are paid almost the same pension as people who have diligently paid their PRSI contributions for 40 years or more is, I contend, both inequitable and unsustainable. People should NOT receive benefits which they have not paid for; with the accepted exception being those who are indigent or penniless and need a minimum amount to maintain a basic standard of living. However, such a basic standard should be just that - basic. Just enough to eat and live very modestly and no more.
In particular, the recent amendments to Pensions legislation whereby persons who have paid few or no contributions (especially persons from a farming or self employed background) get almost full benefits is economic nonsense and clearly unsustainable in the long run (i.e., the next 20 -50 years). The country cannot afford to pay every Tom, Dick and Harriet €200+ per week, especially as the number of pensioners grows rapidly. If people, for whatever reason, do not pay PRSI contributions over a prolonged period then they should be entitled to little or nothing from the PRSI 'fund' (theoretical and all as it is!!).
The idea that somebody, after 40 years of full PRSI contributions, gets a pension which is just about €10 per week more than a person who has paid practically nothing into the PRSI fund clearly discriminates against the prudent contributor and, in its effect, encourages people to 'sponge' off the State; i.e., paying minimum or no PRSI contributions and expecting (nay, demanding) maximum PRSI & pension benefits. Anybody who has not paid a significant number (at least 25 years I suggest) of PRSI contributions should be entitled to only a minimum pension (say 40% of the full, contributory pension). Where people seek to obtain a pension on the basis of 'poverty' then ALL OF THEIR ASSETS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED in determining what their needs and entitlements are.
Stop enabling the farmers and such-like, via myriad schemes which utterly fail to realistically value their assets & property, to obtain more State funds (from the compliant taxpayers of course) on the nonsensical proposition that they are indigent or struck by poverty. If you don't pay PRSI, you should not get a pension!
In short, if people won't contribute to the PRSI fund over a prolonged period then they should be entitled to little or nothing and the rules for determining 'need' and 'poverty' must be tightened up drastically, so that well-heeled farmers and ex-self employed persons are no longer paid undeserved pensions from the public purse.
