This claim by Charlie Weston in the Irish Independent was refuted as follows:
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I refer to the article in Saturday’s paper by Charlie Weston, ‘Garda pension worth €1.1m’, which purported to show that Gardai retired after 30 years as ‘millionaires’ as the size of their imaginary pension fund would have to be €1.1m to fund the lump sum and pension.
Once again, these misleading calculations are being used to portray the public sector pension as ‘golden’or much more favourable than other pensions. The fact is that, in the example of the Garda used, that garda’s lump sum of €79,233 together with his pension of €26,422 annually, to age 80, which is in excess of average lifespan for a male in Ireland, amounts to a grand total of €871,563 approx. This is the ‘cash’ cost of that garda’s pension if he or she is lucky enough to live to age 80 – very few public servants can retire at 50. In the case of the clerical officer, working to age 65, if he or she is lucky enough to live to age 80, the cash cost of pension and lump sum would be €59,352 + €296,760 which comes to a cash total of €356,112. Mr. Weston’s piece estimates the value of the pension ‘pot’ at €570,000. It is clear from these figures why the government has always chosen to fund pensions from current revenue. It cost less cash. The newly fashionable tend to place values on the cost of public sector pensions by comparing them to private pensions serves only to create resentment and division between the public and private sectors and create a public perception that public servants do not contribute enough to their pensions. Actuarial valuations of public sector pensions are misleading in the extreme.
