Removal of women's pension an 'outrage'

THE WITHDRAWAL of contributory pensions from farmers’ wives was described as “immoral” and an “outrage” by members of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs yesterday.

The committee met the Irish Farmers’ Association to discuss the decision by the Department of Social and Family Affairs (now the Department of Social Protection) to withdraw the pension from spouses aged over 66 from January. This reversed a 2008 decision to award the pensions to farm spouses if they got retrospective partnership status and made retrospective PRSI payments.

Former minister for social and family affairs Mary Hanafin told the committee in February the awarding of pensions had been an administrative error.

IFA president John Bryan said a “serious injustice” had been done to these women. He said 268 women on farms had had pensions stopped without warning. Many borrowed to make retrospective PRSI payments, he said, and now they were being told to return pension payments. It would cost the State less than €570,000 per year to honour the agreement to them.

Fine Gael’s Senator Nicky McFadden said it was “an outrage” that 268 women should be sacrificed for €570,000 when billions were being put into Nama.

Labour’s Róisín Shortall said the withdrawal of the pension was a “slap in the face” for the women. Fianna Fáil members, including deputies Mattie McGrath and Charlie O’Connor, were also critical of the decision to remove the pension.

Committee chairman Jackie Healy-Rae agreed that the committee would write to the Minister for Social Protection Eamon Ó Cuív requesting the decision be rescinded. The Minister is due to meet the committee on April 21st.