Meet John: he’s retiring after a lifetime of work to sign on the dole

SIR,

John left school in 1975 at 18-years-old to work as a bookkeeper in a small firm. He studied by night to be an Accounting Technician.

John has been a diligent employee for 45 years. As the only bookkeeper/accounts manager, he had no promotional prospects, though he received entitled salary increases.

John ensured that he and his fellow workers were fully PAYE and PRSI compliant. He married his childhood sweetheart, raising three children in a happy home. All three were educated to honours-degree level without educational grants because of punitive means testing.

John worked every available hour of overtime to finance his children’s education. His wife looked after their semi-detached home, the mortgage on which is paid. The family could never afford a foreign holiday. They rented a house in Galway for a week each August.

John is active in his local parish and is an official in his local GAA club, where he played for 15 years. Not having an occupational pension, he has saved a little money to supplement his Contributory Pension of €12,911 on his compulsory retirement at the age 65 years in 2022.

Despite making all his PRSI contributions, the State has broken its contract with John. It raised the pension age to 66.

Next year it increases to 67. John will retire in 2022 into an uncertain future despite an impeccable employment record of 47 years. The thought of signing on for jobseekers’ benefit for two years terrifies and embarrasses him.

He feels like a pawn in election politics. One party promises to reduce the pension age to 65, a second talks about ‘transition payments to pensions pathway’, while a third promises ‘to retain the pension age at 66, subject to review’. Meanwhile, 17 TDs, younger and with much less service than John, are retiring on an average pension of €31,934 and an average gratuity of €95,624.

The State has done John some disservice! Sincerely,

Billy Ryle,

Spa,

Tralee