Green Party aims to double pension and alter age rule

The Green Party would like to double the state pension to ease poverty among the over-65s and to give people an option to work past retirement age to help avoid a pensions crisis.

According to a policy paper published by the Green Party yesterday, the state pension would climb to two thirds of national average earnings from a current one third of earnings.

The Pensions Board suggested in a report earlier this week that pension payments rise to 40 per cent of gross earnings by 2016.

In addition to the state pension, the Green Party would introduce a contributory pension scheme under a reformed social insurance system that would include tapered Government contributions to private pensions and an opt-out scheme for people who do not belong to a workplace retirement plan.

Under the "opt-out" scheme, modelled on a UK White Paper put forward by Lord Turner, people without a pension would be automatically enrolled in a workplace scheme. Employees would contribute 4 per cent of their salary, employers 3 per cent, and the Government would pay 1 per cent.

"As our population ages, we are spending billions on pensions, yet Government policy has allowed sharp inequality to develop, leaving some older people in poverty," said Dan Boyle, the Green Party's finance spokesman.

The majority of over-65s rely solely on the state pension and an estimated 900,000 out of Ireland's two million-strong workforce do not have a private or occupational pension, the policy paper said.

Still, the State spends as much on tax relief for private pensions as it does directly on contributory and non-contributory public pension schemes.

"The existing system of tax reliefs is costly and ineffective - it does not provide adequate incentives to workers to provide for their future, particularly those on lower incomes," Mr Boyle said.

On top of higher, gender-neutral state pension payments, the Green Party's policy envisions partial pensions for those working part-time between the ages of 65 and 70.

Those who choose to work full-time in this age range and defer receipt of their pension would earn a special tax credit.