Early Retirement Scheme proving a headache for some

OUR recent coverage of some of the anomalies and pitfalls in the EU Early Retirement Pension Scheme has triggered tales of more and more “unhappy ever after” situations around the country.

Scratch the surface of this scheme and there is a flood of sad stories of retired farming couples, widows and widowers, whose expectations were dashed, and who rue the day they first heard of the scheme, or signed their name to an application form.

There is one common thread running through their stories - the complexity of the scheme conditions, and inadequacy of information provided by both the Department of Agriculture and professionals who handled applications.