Fianna Fáil is now preparing to force every working man into funding Pension Funds that have been losing money every day. In other words they are funneling 8% of everyones paycheck into a black hole where there are no controls on pension fund managers. These incompetent Pension fund managers are allowed to lose money without regard to their customers. And there is NO need, you can earn interest on a pension WITHOUT risk. In fact this should be the number one requirement. Instead this is a gift to the criminal behavior of Pension manager. Should a regulation be put in place to guarantee that funds placed into pensions will never be less than the value of the investment. These crooks would scatter back under the rocks where they came out from. And Fianna Fáil would lose some more of their brown envelopes.
(The employee is forced to give them 4% and the employer is forced to reduce the employee’s paycheck by 4% to sent along with the employee’s to net the Pension thieves 8%)
UPDATE: The employee will only lose 6% in his pay slip as the the employer only has to add 2% probably paid as a benefit. This will create less jobs, and put more people on the Dole.
Although there may be an argument for raising the pension age of those born in the past 20 years, I don’t see where the data used in the Green Paper could apply to anyone born before 1974. I have read the Irish Life tables from the ‘Central Statistics Office’ and they reveal a different picture from the one suggested in the framework document. Irish life expectancy is near the bottom of the EU15 countries – below Malta and Slovenia! The CSO also record the fact that the Irish live 1 year less than our European counterparts. Furthermore, they show that over 5% of the population will die between the ages of 65 and 68 – effectively denying their ‘legitimate expectation’ to have some form of pension. Based on the ‘actuarial value of contributions to the State; how can this new policy be justified? If it is based on cost, then surely it is the amount of the pension that should be reduced to 83% of its current value?
Quite some time ago, the UK announced it would phase in higher retirement ages. Ireland’s proposals are far more punitive and quicker to implement. A man in his 40’s in the UK will retire at 66; but, even though we live 1 year less than someone in the UK, we will not be allowed to retire until 68.
Regarding the need to pay PRSI for 30 years in order to qualify for the full State Pension: once again, this is being introduced far too quickly – why are there no phases (or hybrids of the 2 schemes) to something as important as this? Someone due to retire on 1/1/20 may only qualify for one-third of the pension – but someone who retires over 1 day earlier may enjoy full benefits. What are the legal implications of this?
Will there be a way to make voluntary contributions beyond the current 5 years?
Will people who are unemployed, but not eligible to claim benefit, be able to make voluntary payments? (The framework document only refers to additional contributions for ‘Home-makers’ and people who want to contribute ‘after’ the retirement age.)
I doubt that many people over the age of 40 will be able to even make 30 years of credits.
(People may be ‘projected’ to live 2 years longer, but that extra 2 years is not quality.)