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Pensioners enjoy free public transport in Ireland but queuing is still a must (Martin Murphy)
The old age pension started one hundred years ago in Ireland by the British government who used an unconvential suitability test to determine who was of pensionable age.
The pension was introduced by David Lloyd George the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the then Liberal British Government. He championed the causes of the poor and weak in society and it’s thought that his greatest achievement was his programme of social reform which was introduced between the years 1908 and 1911.
Unconventional suitability test
When introducing the pension to Ireland British bureaucrats were hindered in their attempts to deem who qualified as there was a lack of early civil birth records and Irish written records were inadequate and incomplete. Therefore it was decided to interview applicants and based their suitability on some facts, one of them being if they remembered the night of the ‘Big Wind’.
The Night of the Big Wind was a freak event in Irish history. On Sunday Jan 5th 1839 hurricane force winds began to batter the west and north coast of Ireland. Freak winds from the Atlantic toppled barns, church spires and many houses burned down because the bizarre winds blew down chimneys scattering burning coals and embers.
There were reports of houses collapsing on people and thousands were made homeless. Food stores were scattered and many livestock were killed. In 1908 the ageing populace got to hear of this question and fabricated elaborate tales of having experienced the event. The result was that the ages of almost entire Irish population increased by ten years that year.
The advent of the old age pension was the catalyst for the introduction of a range of social benefits including support to widows and widowers, those with disabilities and carers. Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms. Mary Hanafin TD, said “looking to the future of our pension scheme, we are now seeing much longer life expectancy and a much more active and participative generation of pensioners.”
New commemorative stamp
The new fifty-five cent pension stamp which was designed for An Post to commemorate the introduction of state pension a hundred years ago was unveiled last week. The stamp which displays the faint impression of a Harp as a symbol of the State also spells the word pension and ‘100’, to signify the centenary anniversary of the event.
The pension when introduced in 1908 had a maximum rate of five shillings per week and was payable to those whose incomes did not exceed twenty one Irish pound yearly.
By the early 1900s poverty in Ireland had shifted from the mud cabin in the countryside to urban ghettos. In Dublin an example of Irish city life was one of the most appalling slums in Europe lacking in clean running water, heat or plumbing. Workers were paid poorly and cruelly treated. A third of the city lived in one roomed apartments. One tenement house in Mountjoy Square could house up to sixty families. Citizens of Ireland were among the poorest and most destitute in Europe with average life expectancy being around 54 years of age.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin who unveiled the centenary stamp described the introduction of the state pension, “As one of the most progressive and well intentioned supports for citizens”.
