Tens of thousands of women who were forced to give up their civil service jobs when they got married prior to 1973 should have their pensions restored, a campaign group for older people has said.
Older and Bolder, an alliance of eight different NGOs in the ageing sector, said yesterday it completely rejected the Government's failure to deal with the "marriage bar" in its recently published National Pensions Framework.
It also criticised Government plans to raise the pension qualifying age to 66 by 2014 and create a supplementary pension coverage system managed by the private sector in a new report - A Secure Pension System for All?
Under the "marriage bar", which was abolished in 1973, women working in the public and civil service had to resign their job as soon as they married. Many of these women lost their cover under the social welfare system when they left work, and either did not qualify for a State pension when they retired, or only qualified for a smaller State pension.
The National Pensions Framework, which was published in March, estimates 47,000 people are affected by the marriage bar and gaps in social insurance coverage for the self employed. But it proposed that "pension reform will focus only on future arrangements" and not "legacy issues".
Margaret O'Leary (64), who was forced to give up her job at An Post when she got married in 1970, said the State's failure to address the issue of the marriage bar was an "appalling injustice".
"Women who were forced to leave work back then found themselves managing on one person's wage, and they often had to look after older relatives, and there was no carers allowance then," she said at the launch of the report.
"Now when it is time to apply for a pension all they can get is a dependent or non contributory pension. I feel an appalling injustice has been done to these women," said Ms O'Leary.
The report by Older and Bolder recommends a special once-off arrangement to meet the needs of women denied access to a pension because of the marriage bar.
"We do not accept that such an arrangement would, as stated in the National Pensions Framework, compromise the contributory principle underpinning the contributory state pension system, it adds.
The report also recommends extending the lead-in time for the introduction of changes to the pension qualifying age. The National Pensions Framework recommends increasing the qualifying age to 66 in 2014, up from 65. And subsequently to 67 years in 2021 and 68 years in 2028.
"Unfortunately, the proposals set out in the National Pensions Framework militate against choice for older people. The recommendation of a mandatory increase in the qualifying age for the State Pension by 2014 - a very short lead-in time - and propose no action on mandatory retirement ages which push people out of the workplace at age 65, regardless of their preferences and capabilities," said Patricia Conboy, project director Older and Bolder.
Ictu general secretary David Begg criticised the proposal to create a supplementary pension coverage system managed by the private sector, describing this as "entrusting people's future financial security to the whims of the market".
He said the proposal would force people to hand a portion of their earnings to the same speculators who have already failed so spectacularly given the huge scale of losses in Irish pension funds in the past few years. He said a supplementary pension scheme should be managed by the State.