Sir, – The proposal to link public sector pensions to inflation in order to contain the growing unsustainability of the present system (Editorial, June 5th) is a distraction from the real problem – how to create a sustainable pension system for everyone.
Sooner rather than later the Government, any government, must grasp the nettle and create a universal pension scheme for everyone – public sector, private sector, those working for someone else, the self-employed, the unemployed, the very rich and the very poor. There should be no tax breaks and everyone should contribute according to their means.
That should be reflected, to a degree, by what they receive, with significant weighting towards those on low to middle incomes.
It would meet with massive opposition from the very rich, employer organisations, trade unions and above all the pensions industry; but the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to create such a system before the current one implodes.
Hopefully I will be too old to be around by the time that happens. The vast majority of your readers will still be around. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIG YEATES,
Station Road,
Portmarnock,
Co Dublin.
