A few dozen pensioners gathered in near freezing weather outside the Dáil on Wednesday night in protest at changes to the rules that have cut their weekly payments.
Those present said that as the number of affected continues to rise, so too will the level of anger.
"I get €214 [a week]. I would have got around the €230 had she not changed the bands," said protest organiser Lillian McCarthy (67) of changes made to the State pension system in 2012 by then minister for social protection Joan Burton.
“Had she come out and said we are going to reduce the pension across the board by €5 there would have been all out war...by changing the bands, it’s only filtering. I don’t think we are even at the peak of it yet. Every day women and men are [turning] 66.”
The Government has promised to reform the system from 2020, but only for those who begin working at that date.
Today’s entitlements are based on the average number of annual contributions, with a minimum number required for any pension. The first PRSI stamp paid is the starting point even when that might be in relation to a part-time or temporary job.
Protesters now estimate that as many as 44,000 people, many of them women who left or were historically forced to leave the workforce to raise families, are disadvantaged by the calculation method.
Those who took time out of the workforce after 1994 have been able to discount up to 20 years from their working life for the purposes of calculating their State pension, but many of those reaching retirement now would have left work before then.
Band increases
In 2012, the number of pension bands was increased from four to six, which cut the pension by up to €30 a week for elderly people with reduced contributions.
"I have worked for 25 years. I looked after a family for 23 years. There is no recognition of that," said Zephra Johnson (66), who trained as a nurse but did not end up working until 1995. After the 2012 adjustment, she said, she gets €202 a week rather than €234.
“If I hadn’t trained as a nurse and just gone to work in 1995 I would have qualified for the full pension. I think it is age discrimination and I think it is discrimination of women.”
Ray Lacken retired in 2014, losing about €35 per week because of the new system: "I worked all my life. I've never been idle."
With a nod toward the Dáil, fellow-protester Chris noted that working people like them put the politicians in power. “It’s the people on the street that work all their lives that back the government when austerity was in. People took the cuts,” she said. “[Politicians] don’t have to stand in the street today looking for a pension.”
