Almost €100 million in tax reliefs are shared by just 4,700 of the highest earners in the State, the Labour Party conference in Wexford was told this morning.
Roisin Shortall, the party's Social and Family Affairs spokesperson said data released to her in Parliamentary Question showed that 4,500 of the best remunerated people in the State were given €97 million worth of tax relief on their pensions in 2004, the last full year for which figures were available.
She said the information was evidence that the current Government's pension policy was favouring those who were least in need of assistance.
She said the people benefiting from these reliefs typically benefits 33 times more than the average industrial wage and allowed them to reduce their tax bill by an average of around €20,500.
"How can anyone justify this system?" she asked delegates. "If the basic aim of pensions policy is to ensure that everyone has enough income in their retirement, then why are we spending so much State resources on those who need it least?"
"How can anyone justify this system? It makes no sense, either on the grounds of fiscal prudence or tax equity."
She accused Ministers of not doing enough on the debt problem. "The licensing system for money lending needs to be drastically overhauled. It's time to end state-sanctioned extortion by money lenders," she added.
Liz McManus, spokeswoman on communications, energy and natural resources, warned of the need to act to ensure energy supply security.
"Peak oil (the point when maximum production is reached) may well become a reality sooner that was initially predicted," she said.
"Coupled with the growing threat of climate change it presents us with enormous challenges and the inconvenient truth is that we cannot rely on the Green Party in Government."
Motions for debate at the conference suggest some kind of commission to look into the party's future political, organisational and electoral development.
This morning's debates will focus on agriculture, local government, the environment, and Justice.
There will also be a motion calling for an education campaign highlighting the dangers of cannabis use, while another will call for that drug to be decriminalised.
Party leader Eamon Gilmore will deliver his first conference address this evening. He did not open the conference last night as he was attending the funeral of his mother, Celia in Galway.