Irish Life to review cases of ex-public servants

Irish Life has agreed to investigate the cases of former public servants who believe they have lost out on retirement benefits because they were not fully informed of their rights.

The company, part of Irish Life & Permanent, said that it agreed to review three specific cases following a meeting with former accountant George O'Sullivan, who has been leading a campaign on behalf of retired public servants who say their benefits suffered.

Mr O'Sullivan, a former national chairman of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a lecturer in the subject in Cork Institute of Technology, has been seeking to raise the issue with the State, trade unions and pension providers.

In a statement, Irish Life said it agreed to meet Mr O'Sullivan yesterday on the basis that he was a shareholder and customer. It pointed out that he has an issue with the broad life insurance industry.

"During the meeting today, Mr O'Sullivan asked us to look at the cases of three customers of one of the group's subsidiaries to see whether there was any case to answer," Irish Life said. "As normal - and subject to the permission of the individuals named - we will review these cases."

According to Mr O'Sullivan, those affected are mainly teachers, lecturers, nurses and others who joined the public service in mid-career, when it would not have been possible for them to get a full State pension on retirement.

Since the early 1980s, such people have had the option of buying into the State's defined benefit scheme, through its notional service purchase plan. This means they get a guaranteed, index-linked pension on retirement.

Alternatively they can use additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) to purchase an annuity to top up their pension, which has tax benefits but does not have the same guarantees as the State scheme.

Mr O'Sullivan said that in many cases, the State bodies for which they were working failed to tell these employees of their right to buy into the public service pension. As a result, they took the AVC option, which was more expensive and did not pay as much as the public service scheme.