Groups representing older people call for pension not to be reduced

CALLS FOR the pension not to be reduced in December’s budget were made by three groups representing older people yesterday.

They argued that pensioners had already experienced income and service cuts and such a move would place more older people below the poverty line.

Income reductions already experienced by older people included the loss of the Christmas bonus, dental benefit and optical benefit, as well as the introduction of prescription charges and increased fuel costs, said Mairéad Hayes, chief executive of the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament.

Many older people were “hovering around the poverty line” with one in 10 pensioners living in poverty, Eamon Timmins, head of advocacy at Age Action, said.

Despite a public perception that older people had escaped cuts “nothing could be further from the truth”, he added.

Recent service reductions which have made life more challenging for older people included rationing of home help and meals on wheels as well as the cessation of local authority home adaptation and mobility grants, he said.

Increases to the State pension since 2001 were just playing catch-up, said Patricia Conboy, director of the Older and Bolder campaign. Reductions in the cost of living were largely based on lower housing costs which was “not widely relevant to older people . . . In the areas that do affect them, costs have been increasing.” The inequity of private pension tax relief might be a more appropriate focus for analysis, she added.

The groups were reacting to an opinion piece by Irish TimesEconomics Editor Dan O'Brien which was published yesterday.