Submission 250
May 08
Green Paper Submission
On a Contributory Pension, the law presently provides that one is entitled to claim full pension if one has contributed for an average of 48 contributions per year for ten years. I came home from abroad and contributed an average of 52 contributions per year for 12 years. One would therefore assume that I was entitled to a Full Pension but that was not the case.
I pointed out to the Department that contribution would also have been made on my behalf for my one years salary in 1962-1963 of £500 per year by my employer in Dublin before I went abroad. No one has stated how much that might have been but, based upon present day deductions, it would have been £42-10-0 or 53.86 for the year. Therefore, because of that payment, my average, instead of being 52 weeks for 12 years is now brought down to 28 weeks for 43 years and my weekly pension is reduced by €50 per week. In brief, my contribution of €53.96 45 years ago now costs me €2,500 per year for the remainder of my life. More importantly, it shall impose undue hardship on my widow. If I had claimed under the Non-Contributory Plan, I would now be receiving a larger State Pension.
I retained a farm here while I was abroad but I was informed by my accountants of the time [Company Name] that I was not permitted to make a pension contribution as a non resident. Those intervening years were, therefore eliminated by the State for contribution but are not eliminated by the State for averaging. I have written to the Minister and the Ombudsman and, while they agree with the unfairness of my situation, they quote the law as it presently stands.
While I am sure that the law is written in that manner for the normal situation of a full time resident, I request that an allowance, or alteration, be made in the law to cover a situation like mine so that one is not penalised for years in which one is precluded by law from making a contribution.
