A FIREFIGHTER has told how she could be left with a pension of around €300 per week when she retires after decades of service due to an unfair two-tiered system.
Following the financial crash, access to a supplementary pension scheme was removed for all gardai, soldiers, prison officers and firefighters that joined the services after 2013.
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This means that a uniformed officer who earns €60,000 a year will receive an occupational pension of only €16,300 when they retire at 55, which they must live on for ten years before getting access to the State pension at 65.
Meanwhile, an older officer who joined before 2013 will get a full pension of €31,800 from the age of 55 simply because they get the supplementary pension scheme.
Unions representing gardai, soldiers, prison officers and firefighters have come together for the Secure Our Future campaign to call for the supplementary pension to be given to all members who joined after 2013.
The unions claim that the pension problem is the single biggest issue leading soldiers and gardai to leave the services early and switch jobs to secure their financial future.
Firefighter and paramedic Aisling Buffini joined the Dublin Fire Brigade in 2020 and told the Irish Sun that she could be left trying to live on a pension of around €300 per week when she retires.
While Aisling has not received an exact figure on her pension, she said: “All I know is that it is significantly less than my colleagues who are pre-2013 and some of the figures that have been thrown out are €300 odd a week, which isn’t enough for anyone to survive on.
“I think even social welfare payments are not too far off that so it is quite significantly less.
“What I’m living on now, I’m one of the people who can’t afford to live in Dublin. I live in Kildare so I have a 70km commute everyday to get into work.
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“My bill for petrol is €400 a month, so my pension wouldn’t even cover that having to work.”
The firefighter told how she fears that she will not be able to make the repayments on her mortgage on her future pension.
She said: “I’m two years into a 35-year mortgage. I now have to over pay each month to try and shorten my mortgage term because when I retire I won’t be able to afford to pay a mortgage and bills on my pension as it is.
“I’ve also had to start an additional voluntary contribution to try and pre-empt the shortcomings in the single member scheme. I am under financial pressure now to try ensure financial security in the future.
“As someone who would like to start a family someday I have to be mindful that when it comes time for me to retire I might have children still in college and at home who can’t afford to move out due to the inaccessible housing market.
“My pension as it is won’t be enough to support my family.”
Retirement age
Firefighters must retire at the age of 55 but the Government is working on legislation that will extend this retirement age to 62.
Asked about the prospect of working into her 60s, Aisling told the Irish Sun: “The job is very, very physical. There aren’t really options for what we’d call in the front line services ‘light duties’.
“You would still be going into a fire when you’re 60 with a BA set – you’re talking about a stone of extra equipment on top of you going into a fire.
“You’re carrying people up and down stairs. It’s a very physical job. It’s a very mentally difficult job as well.”
Pension problem
President of the Garda Representative Association Mark O’Meara told the Irish Sun that the pension problem is one of the main reasons why gardai are leaving the force to find financial security elsewhere.
General Secretary of the Representative Association for Commissioned Officers Conor King said that the pension problem was compounding the recruitment and retention crisis in the Defence Forces.
He said: “We’re going backwards at an alarming rate in the last few years. It’s very important that this is seen as the number one retention challenges from across the Defence Forces.”
Karl Dalton from the Prison Officers Association claimed that the move to punish uniformed workers who joined after 2013 is a direct attack on workers.
