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TOMORROW the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin, will unveil a new stamp for An Post commemorating the centenary of the introduction of statutory pensions in Britain and Ireland, writes Ronan O'Brien.

The Old Age Pensions Act, which received royal assent on August 1st, 1908, granted a pension of 5 shillings to those with annual incomes under £20, and a lesser amount, determined on a sliding scale, to those with annual incomes of up to £31 10s. The Act was one of a number of social reform measures implemented by the last Liberal government, that of Herbert Asquith. It marked the beginning of the end of the infamous poor law system and the birth of the modern welfare state.