A chara, – You write that "public service pension arrangement are unfunded" ("Public service pension and retirement costs set to reach ¤3.1 billion", October 12th). That will be news to the roughly 300000 public servants who have 6.5 per cent of their salaries deducted for superannuation every year!
And of course they are required to pay that for 40 years in most cases in order to qualify for the maximum 50 per cent of final salary. That means a maximum of €25,000 for someone earning €50,000. If the retiree has a dependant, that €25,000 represents a pension around 10 per cent larger than the State pension.
With our changing age profile, we need an intelligent debate on future pensions. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN RYAN,
READ SOME MORE
Montenotte, Cork.