Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, I received a distressed call from a constituent, Annie from Ballyfermot, a 79 year old age pensioner, who is in receipt of a widow’s contributory pension. Her husband died in 1977. On Friday, she went to the post office to collect her pension to discover it had been cut off. The reason was that she was subject to a random controlled check by the Department of Social Protection. She was very upset she had to prove again her entitlement to this miserly pension of €12,000 a year while watching recent scandals hitting the TV news every night and in the newspapers. In her view, she has worked, paid her stamp, reared nine children and is, accordingly, entitled to her widow’s contributory pension.

To my mind, this is a story of two worlds. There are those on State pensions who have to prove and reprove their eligibility to their entitlements - prove they are not spongers, criminals or defrauding the State. This is contrasted with those at the top of our society, with an unlimited and boundless sense of entitlement, in the health services and the top of charitable organisations who have salaries of up to €100,000 a year, ten times the State pension.

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