U-turn on pension levy comes under fire

The Government was accused last night of reversing a commitment to scrap the pension levy, with the Budget 2014 announcement that it will actually increase next year.

The pensions industry and the opposition were among those to criticise the move, which will see the levy rise next year from its current level of 0.6% to 0.75%, before then being cut back to 0.15% in 2015.

Jerry Moriarty, CEO of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, said this flew in the face of a previous government commitment to scrap the levy altogether.