50 Years of Work for €299 just above half the Minimum Wage. But Don’t Worry, Our TDs Have Their Retirement Sorted.
Please Note: there has been some updates to this article since first published on - Sept 16th 2026.
Work for fifty years. Pay your taxes. Pay your PRSI. Keep the country running.
Then retire on roughly €299.30 a week, about €15,564 a year at the full State Contributory Pension rate in 2026.
In comparison: Just a few politicians pensions - more listed on report (near end of this article) from - thejournal.ie - 31 Oct 2024.
Simon Coveney €294.143.40 – FG
Leo Varadker
€271.383.91 – FG
Eamon Ryan
€239.723.31 – GP
Seán Haughey
€242.404.00 – FF
THE GREAT PENSION APARTHEID
A pensioner who has worked and contributed to Ireland for up to fifty years is entitled to the maximum State Pension – 2026 (Contributory) of approximately €299.30 per week, or €15,564 per year.
Yet, we then witness politicians awarding themselves extraordinary pensions, amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros, as shown above. The stark contrast between these figures raises serious questions about fairness and the value placed on decades of contributions by ordinary workers.
€1.2 billion on international-protection accommodation in 2025
At the same time, the State spent approximately €1.2 billion on international-protection accommodation in 2025. This expenditure covers accommodation and associated services, including facilities management, utilities, transport and other related costs. The system provides accommodation, financial support and other services at no direct cost to recipients, including some individuals whose immigration status is undocumented or unresolved, while requiring little or no financial contribution from them.
800 people facing deportation orders, costing the state an estimated half a million euro a week.
The State has also confirmed that, on 6 May 2026, more than 800 people subject to deportation orders were residing in IPAS accommodation.
Where IPAS accommodation can cost up to €99 per person per night, that represents a potential State expenditure of €693 per week, for accommodation and associated services. That is more than twice the weekly value of a maximum contributory pension.
800 x €693 = €554, 400 Per Week
For people who should have been deported costing the state over half a million euro a week. Let me repeat that over half a million euro a week.
It is just complete squandering of people’s money. That is not including the thousands of people that should never have been allowed in here in the first place.
Once a person has received a deportation order, should they no longer be entitled to ongoing financial or material support from the Irish state? If they choose to challenge or appeal that order, they should bear the full cost of doing so themselves rather than requiring Irish taxpayers to fund the appeal.
Is this a criminal act, a breach of human rights against Irish tax payers to retain this burden? Why have these people not been deported. What is the Minister doing?
I believe this raises a serious question of equality, proportionality and fair treatment of pensioners and others under Irish law.
I am asserting that this disparity is sufficiently serious to warrant proper constitutional and legal examination. These politicians should not have control of a country’s finances if this is how they deal with vulnerable Irish people in Irish society.
Legal Examination
The State’s expenditure of €1.2 billion in a single year on accommodation and associated services for persons seeking international protection, potentially amounting to €693 per person per week, stands in stark contrast to the €299.30 weekly pension received by someone who has contributed to the State up to 50 years. This substantial disparity raises serious questions of fairness, proportionality and equal treatment.
I therefore believe pensioners have legitimate grounds to seek legal recourse and to require the State to provide a clear and legally sustainable justification for this differential treatment, including its compliance with equality, proportionality and constitutional rights.
I am asking for equal consideration, proportionality and justice for people who spent their working lives contributing to this State.
But no such pension for the Politician’s, they won’t be living on €299.30 a week.
Now look at the pension arrangements available to politicians.
A TD can build up an Oireachtas pension worth tens of thousands of euro a year after serving for only a fraction of the working life expected of ordinary citizens. Ministers may accrue additional pension entitlements, while some departing politicians have received retirement packages worth hundreds of thousands of euro when pensions and lump sums are combined.
In some cases, these benefits can amount to as much as eight times more per week than those available to ordinary citizens.
That is not a small difference.
It is a two-tier pension system.
Ordinary workers are told the State pension is a basic safety net. They are expected to survive rising rents, heating bills and food costs on a payment that barely resembles a retirement income.
Politicians have historically enjoyed far more generous occupational pension arrangements, with significantly better accrual rates and, in some cases, multiple public-service pension entitlements.
And the benefits do not necessarily end when the politician dies.
Taxpayer-funded pension benefits can continue to support a politician’s family after the politician’s death.
Under the Oireachtas pension schemes, surviving spouses or civil partners can receive a continuing pension, while eligible dependent children can also receive survivor benefits, subject to the rules and age limits of the particular scheme. (Oireachtas)
Now ask an ordinary worker what happens to the pension they spent decades paying for.
There is no comparable inheritance of their State pension entitlement.
That contrast should make every taxpayer stop and ask a simple question:
Who designed this system, and who benefits from it?
Defenders say politicians need generous pensions because public office is insecure. But millions of workers face insecure employment without ever getting the opportunity to write their own retirement rules.
A nurse cannot vote herself a better pension.
A factory worker cannot legislate a six-figure retirement package.
A shop worker cannot stack multiple taxpayer-funded pensions.
Yet politicians have historically operated under rules far more generous than those available to the people they represent.
Ireland has tightened pension arrangements for newer public representatives, but older, more generous entitlements remain.
This is not simply about money.
It is about fairness, trust and the credibility of public service.
If the State says it cannot afford a decent retirement income for ordinary workers, people are entitled to ask why political retirement arrangements have historically been so much more generous.
A fair system would put politicians under rules ordinary citizens recognise as reasonable. It would restrict pension stacking, require appropriate contributions and ensure political office is not a shortcut to exceptional retirement security.
Public representatives should serve the public, not retire into a completely different financial universe from the people who paid their wages.
Fifty years of work should mean more than crumbs.
And political office should never become a golden pension door that ordinary taxpayers are permanently locked out of.
That is not equality.
It is privilege and it is time to call it exactly that.
A Question of Fairness, Proportionality and Equal Treatment
The contrast between the pension provision available to senior public representatives and that available to ordinary pensioners raises serious questions of fairness and proportionality.
The maximum State Pension (Contributory) is €299.30 per week, or approximately €15,563.60 per year. By comparison, published figures for the pension entitlements of some former politicians show annual entitlements many times this amount:
The comparison is just appalling, obscene in fact, how could these politician justify this?
Leo Varadker: €271.383.91 – FG
Eamon Ryan: €239.723.31 – GP
Simon Coveney: €294.143.40 – FG
Seán Haughey: €242.404.00 – FF
Just a few listed on this report on – thejournal.ie – 31 Oct 2024
https://www.thejournal.ie/investigates-political-pensions-full-list-6490957-Oct2024
Parliamentary Pension Scheme
There are two schemes in operation for Members.
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/working-in-parliament/pensions/pension-schemes
___________________________
Deportation Orders
Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday – 16 September 2026
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2026-09-16/873
____________________________
We are organising, we intend to make our voices heard.
I attended the Ploughing Championships last week, and honestly, it was an amazing experience. I met so many people who are now facing a pension of just €299.00.
I can tell you this: Irish politicians are about to discover what it feels like when an entire generation becomes organised and refuses to accept being treated unfairly.
We are coming together to challenge the legalities surrounding the substantial pensions and benefits available to politicians, particularly when compared with the crumbs being offered to ordinary people who have worked and contributed throughout their lives.
This is not about asking for favours. It is about fairness, accountability and ensuring that those who have contributed to Irish society are treated with dignity in retirement.
We are organising, and we intend to make our voices heard.
