Put tax on bloated state pensions

YOUR report (News, Sept 12) about the laissez-fare attitude of the HSE with state funds can hardly come as a surprise to anyone at this stage.

We know that we have a bevy of ex-TDs, ministers, senior public servants, etc — most of whom have not even reached retirement age — who are in receipt of massive yearly payouts and it appears that the new government is every bit as reluctant to intervene and end this disgrace as the last one was.

Any difficulties regarding changing the rules retrospectively can easily be circumvented by the introduction of a special tax to be levied on all government payouts that exceed an amount that is greater than four times that of the basic state pension.