'It's worth over 300,000 if you receive the full state pension and live to the age of 85' - meet the Irish people who cashed in on the UK state pension windfall

"Thanks to what was once dubbed "a wild loophole", thousands of Irish people have applied for an opportunity to significantly boost their pension pot"

"Like generations of Irish workers before him, Seamus Doyle found himself working in the sprawling Ford Motor Company plant in Dagenham in the 1980s. He'd been recruited by an Irishman as an industrial painter, and painted the roofs, floors and offices of what was then Europe's biggest car factory. "I went over to the UK in 1979 and stayed until 2001," he said. "I was 19 and wanted to see the bright lights.""

Thousands of Irish people have applied to use a once-dubbed "wild loophole" to significantly boost their pension pots. The opportunity is attracting many former Irish workers who spent years employed in the UK and may be eligible to increase pension entitlements. Seamus Doyle worked at the Ford Motor Company plant in Dagenham from 1979 until 2001 as an industrial painter. He was recruited by an Irishman and painted the roofs, floors and offices of what was then Europe's biggest car factory. He left Ireland at 19 to see the bright lights, reflecting a generation that sought work abroad.

Read at Independent