I’m in the public sector and have one of these Rolls Royce pensions you’ve heard about.The only problem is that it’s complete shite and I’m trying to get out of it. I realise this goes against the orthodox teaching of the Irish media, the public sector unions, the private sector and pretty much everyone else. The problem is that they don’t have a sausage what they’re talking about.
Rollers are jolly nice cars and to compare them to this pension is nonsensical. The civil service pension assumes you’ll retire after 40 years. At this time you’ll get
Annual Pension = Base Salary x Years of Service / 80
You’ll also get a one off payment of
One off payment = Base Salary x 3 x Years of Service / 80
However, your annual pension is paid as an excess above the PRSI-funded “state pension”. Effectively, you’ll have to contribute for around 15 years before there’s any annual benefit beyond the state pension.
Ah, but the public sector is full of permanent and effectively undismissable workers I hear you say. Actually this is not the full story at all. There are many workers in the public sector who are on fixed-term contracts or whose jobs are subject to funding. The state is happy to keep things this way. They lost a court case taken by IMPACT on behalf of 91 Irish workers who were denied equal rights with their permanent public sector colleagues.
What’s the point in having a pension entirely based on time served when it is highly unlikely you’ll serve that time.
The Irish
http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1015439.shtml
Also, Minister Lenihan doesn’t seem to understand that one of the main reasons why the cost of providing a public sector pension has increased is the diabolical performance of the Irish stock market. An issue which the financial regulator and the dept. of finance are partially responsible for. Some would say more than partially…
http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1015969.shtml
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