Submission 301
May 08
Green Paper Submission
I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your recent letter regarding the pre-1953 pension system. However there is a rather large issue arising from it that I would like to address.
In your letter you stated that it would be quite costly to grant the pre-1953 social welfare contributions to other pensioners who also have a minimum of 260 (5yrs). However since the inception of the pre-1953 pension system, the number that qualified and continues to qualify has diminished considerably due to natural causes.
In reality all pensioners with pre-1953 social welfare contributions are now in their late 70s and 80s and realistically this number will continue to diminish every year to a point where the 1953 system will effectively be redundant.
It would be seen, I believe, as a caring and sympathetic gesture to pensioners if a maximum of 260 pre-1953 social welfare contributions were recognised and added to their existing post-1953 social welfare contributions divided by the additional 5 years to achieve a new yearly average.
The actual additional cost would be a quarter of full pension, which is approximately €2,600 per pensioner per year and this cost, as I’ve already pointed out, would obviously diminish each year. Pensioners who retired at age 65 since 2003 would have pre-1953 social welfare contributions. I trust this request will get a duly broad minded and sympathetic hearing within the green paper consultation.
I am providing for your convenience an example of how my request would work.
Current Pension Formula
500 post-1953 SWC*
42 post-1953 years to 65th birthday = 11.9 yearly average = 50% of full pension
Requested Pension Formula
500 post 1953 SWC + 260 pre 1953 SWC = 760
42 post 1953 years + 5 pre-1953 years = 47 = 16.17 yearly average = 75% of full pension
Again I trust you will give this due consideration
