Over 16,000 pensioners have seen their weekly payments topped up by over €20 a week after some pensioners who fell victim to a change in how pensions were calculated.
According to the Sunday Independent, the Government will have to pay at least an additional €1,000 a year to some pensioners.
Fianna Fail social protection spokesperson Willie O’Dea said the majority of pensioners who had their cases reviewed were still receiving less than they would have been entitled to before the flawed calculation system was introduced.
“The vast majority of those who were lucky enough to get increases are still getting payments which are falling short of what they should be getting if the rules hadn’t been changed in the first place,” Mr O’Dea told the Sunday Independent.
“The system is still completely unfair and the Government should have just undone the flawed legislation rather than introduce a hugely complicated system to try to fix the problem.”
The new figures show a Department of Social Protection taskforce has to date reviewed 77,193 of the 90,000 pension payments believed to have been impacted by the anomaly.
Of those who are entitled to an increase, 51pc, or 16,534 pensioners, will see their pension payment increase by €20 per week or more, while the remaining 15,887 pensioners will receive €19 or less.
All payments will be backdated to March 30, 2018 or the pensioner’s 66th birthday if later, meaning some pensioners will receive a payment of €1,000 a year or more.
Read the full story here: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/1k-payback-for-pensioners-to-correct-bonkers-anomaly-38330919.html