Some people, especially women who had to leave work when they got married are being penalised in their pensions and that has to be looked at in a Government review. There are also more anomalies in the system that need to be looked at.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said recently that it is vitally important that pensioners are properly looked after but after what he and his Labour colleagues did in terms of pension entitlement when they were in Government I would call that view into serious question.
For instance women who had to leave the civil service once married would have a huge gap in stamps and that would affect their pension wheras a person who did not work until they were 50 and worked for 15 years would get a full contributory pension. This is just one anomaly in a number that the Government need to look at in this area.
Those who have paid into their pension and for one reason or another, let it be family commitments, illness or other, have gaps in their contributions- find themselves in shock when they come to pension age as the believe that only the years the worked will be averaged, this is not the case.
Also, through my clinics and office, I have noticed that contribution histories are not always 100% accurate, and often when people look at their records realise they should have more contributions than those accounted for on their records. People need to watch this very carefully as well.
In addition, the situation whereby some people have to apply for Job Seekers Allowance for a year or two before the state pension kicks in at 66 also needs to be looked at. It does not make sense that people who have paid into their pension all of their working lives have to apply for the Job Seekers Allowance to tide them over until they qualify for the pension at 66.
