The injustice and discrimination against public service pensioners arises;
1. On the unjust use of the Universal Social Charge against public service pensioners vis-á-vis private sector pensioners on the same pensions.
2. The Government's use of emergency powers to restrict the property rights of public service pensioners in a situation where by contrast over €1 billion has been put into the pension funds of the state owned Allied Irish Banks on the basis of recognizing the legal obligations to bank pensioners.
3. The Governments continual failure to honour its legal contracts to a small number of civil service pensioners who gave up their careers for a nominal increase in their pensions.
4. The evidence that the Government, notwithstanding the banking crisis of 2008, entered into the legal contracts fully aware of the worsening state of the Irish economy, a situation unknown to lower rank retiring civil servants who believed fully in the integrity of the sovereign Irish Government to fulfill its part of the contract.
5. The Government increased the pensions of some very senior civil servants and in other cases did not apply any emergency restrictions to the pensions of other very senior civil servants.
6. Since May 2013, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has indicated his intention as a matter of priority to move towards reducing the burden of the public service pension reduction as soon as circumstances permit.
7. In July, 2014, the Minister indicated that talks would be held in 2015 about the orderly winding down of the emergency legislation in relation to public service pensions.
Accordingly, these emergency measures specifically targeting lower ranking public and civil service pensioners are grossly wrong and unjust to these pensioners who are deserving of equal recognition of the time they spent all of their working lives in the service of the state.
To date no firm commitment has emerged concerning the winding down of the Government's emergency measures. However, as there is a budget due in October, 2015 now is the time to put pressure on the Irish Government to end this gross discrimination and injustice, to honour its legal contracts as an upright and just sovereign Government and so finally ensure justice is done and seen to be done.
