Pension industry bosses are the new landlords

DURING the Great Famine of 1845, Ireland exported food, a little of which could have prevented the catastrophe. The revenue these exports generated was used to fund a lavish lifestyle for faceless absentee landlords.

Now, 160 years later, we are exporting money, a little of which could greatly reduce the effects of the recession. The money in question is the pension contributions of private sector workers subsidised by the Government to the tune of billions of euro.

Private sector pension funds are now valued at €100bn, the bulk of which is invested overseas. Workers’ contributions, government subsidies and profits are used primarily to fund the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by the pensions industry bosses — the new landlord class.

These are as faceless as the 1845 absentee landlords and probably enjoy tax exile status. The 1845 landlords had the full support of the British government with its draconian laws. Today, the pensions industry enjoys the full support of our Government with its pension laws. A range of government agencies, including the Revenue Commissioners, the Pensions Board and IFSRA, produce misleading information to entice people not obliged to join an occupational pension scheme to sign up and inevitably get ripped off. The misinformation includes, among other items, the use of “tax relief ” where “tax deferral” would be more appropriate. They encourage people to take their maximum tax-free lump sum when it may not be in their best interest to do.

In 1845 we had the British government to blame. This time we have only ourselves to blame. Will someone call a halt to the flow of money to the pensions industry, which has failed miserably to deliver? It received €4.1bn in tax subsidies alone in 2007. This is nearly as much as Bord Snip’s proposed cuts.

Michael Terry

College Grove

Castleknock

Dublin 15