ELDERLY people should be allowed to invest up to £10,000 tax free and without it being means-tested for pensions, the Irish Farmers' Association has said.
Following the shooting of a 77-year-old man in his home in Co Wicklow last weekend, the IFA said the State should find ways to encourage elderly people not to, keep cash at home.
Mr Andy Kingston was in "relatively comfortable condition" at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin last night after being shot in the leg during an armed robbery on his home near Aughrim, Co Wicklow, on Saturday. Mr Kingston and his brother, Tom (79), had endured an earlier raid by an armed gang on Tuesday of last week, when £12,000 kept in biscuit tins in the house was stolen.
"More needs to be done to prevent continued attacks on the elderly living in isolated areas," said the IFA deputy president, Mr Michael Slattery.
He said means-testing meant that even "modest" savings could affect a person's entitlement to a State pension of up to £75 a week. "By allowing an elderly person to retain a certain savings level without jeopardising their pension entitlements and waiving any tax charges on their savings, elderly persons would have nothing to fear by depositing savings in a bank or other lending institutions."