JAMIE SMYTH
Social Affairs Correspondent
ONE OF the State's biggest elderly rights groups has warned it will fight the Government's plan to raise the pension age to 68 by 2028 and warned against making any further cuts in State benefits.
The Irish Senior Citizens' Parliament (ISCP), an umbrella body with 436 affiliated organisations representing 100,000 members, said yesterday at its annual conference that the Government's pensions policy was "unfair".
"The parliament has always been of the view that any increase in the age of retirement should be voluntary, with choices available to the person based on what is best for them," said its chief executive Mairéad Hayes.
The age at which people qualify for the State pension will increase over time - to 66 years in 2014, 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2028 - under the Government's policy proposal published this month.
Ms Hayes criticised the cumulative impact of a number of recent Government decisions to cut benefits, which increased the risk of poverty among the elderly.
She highlighted the increasing cost of medical and waste charges and warned the Government not to make any cuts to the free travel benefits enjoyed by the elderly.
Meanwhile, President Mary McAleese told the conference that senior citizens' wisdom was needed more than ever in the "humbling days" of the recession.
"When we see the ghastly consequences of mistaking a culture of speculation for enterprise, we need wise counsel and determined voices to rouse us from the pit of paralysing fatalism and spur us on to implementing solutions," she said.