Wrong to target pensioners - FF

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said people of all ages on higher incomes must take more budgetary pain, but insisted it would be wrong to “target” pensioners.

Mr Martin, speaking at the start of his party’s think-in in Sutton, Dublin, accused Minister of State for Finance Brian Hayes of using language that was “careless” in an interview with The Irish Times on Saturday.

“Fairness will demand those on higher incomes irrespective of what category of society they belong to or what age demographic they belong to will pay proportionately a bit more than those who are on the breadline,” Mr Martin said.

“But we do not believe we should target a group of people such as the elderly or pensioners and say that they’re rolling in it and we should ‘have a go’, which in essence is what Brian Hayes was saying in The Irish Times.”

Mr Hayes said pensioners were the one group of people in the country who had come through the economic crash and still had their incomes intact. While he stressed that he was not talking about people who depended solely on the State pension, Mr Hayes said the Irish political system needed to overcome its inability to countenance budgetary cutbacks affecting older people because many of them told him they were “well off”.

Mr Martin said he had been “taken aback” by Mr Hayes’s comments and noted Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton “came in quickly to rebuke” the junior minister. He said there was a sense of Government “casting around almost desperately” to find groups to target in the upcoming budget.

He said Fianna Fáil would fight any moves to restrict free travel for the elderly. “It’s something dear to our hearts. A Fianna Fáil government brought it in. It has spoken volumes about the respect and esteem that we hold older people in in this country,” he said.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore today warned Ministers about needlessly worrying older people as the Government starts to weigh up budget options. “We will have our budget in December and we won’t be making budget decisions until close to then,” the Tánaiste said in Belfast.  “I think that speculation about what may or may not be in the budget between now and then is unhelpful. I think that we need to be careful that we are giving undue cause for worry to people who are worried about speculation that they are seeing.”

Separately, Mr Martin also said the time is not right to introduce a property tax along the lines proposed by the Government.

He expressed concern about the introduction of a “value-based” property tax which he said would “discriminate” against urban-dwellers in Dublin, Cork and other cities.

“It’s very clear that the squeezed middle are finding it extremely difficult to cope now and that the ability to pay a tax of this scale envisaged by the Government has to be questioned at this particular time.”

Mortgage arrears and stamp duty payments should be taken into account, he said. He said he could see the importance of introducing a property tax under normal economic circumstances, but he did not think it would be possible to raise €500 million in the present circumstances.

The Fianna Fáil leader said people had already faced a lot of extra charges and it was legitimate to raise the issue of people’s capacity to pay. “Our sense is that the timing is not right now to introduce a tax on that particular scale.”

He said it was difficult to discern what the Government was proposing and called on the coalition to publish the Thornhill report on property tax. An interdepartmental group chaired by chairman of the National Competitiveness Council and former senior civil servant Don Thornhill has presented its report to the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.

Mr Martin also expressed concern about the proposed Personal Insolvency Bill. He said the planned law did “not go far enough” and that Fianna Fáil would continue to table amendments. The Bill proposes to let debtors to emerge from bankruptcy after three years instead of 12.

On the health front, Mr Martin said Government Ministers do not have confidence in Minister for Health James Reilly.

The party has tabled a motion of no confidence in Dr Reilly to be discussed in the Dáil tomorrow.

"It was clear to us at the end of August that his own colleagues in Government certainly have not confidence in him. Those in the Fine Gael chose to leak anonymously…but the Labour Party Ministers have been quite clear. They have actually refused point blank to articulate confidence in the Minister for Health."

Mr Martin said Minister of State at the Department of Health Róisín Shortall had been asked on a number of occasions and she had avoided expressing confidence.

"With the lack of confidence that Minister Reilly's own colleagues have in him, how does one expect the Opposition to have confidence in his performance to date."

He said Fianna Fáil would continue putting pressure on Dr Reilly and the rest of the Government "for avoidable decisions which are undermining health services".

Mr Martin said the health services were being subject to a round of "mean-spirited emergency cuts" which he claimed Dr Reilly was denying while implementing.

"Soon after the government was formed Minister Reilly announced that he was abolishing the current management structures of the health services and taking personal charge," Mr Martin said.

"He announced that waiting lists would come down, prescriptions would be cheaper and free-GP care for all was on the way. Eighteen months later waiting lists are up, prescriptions are just as expensive and free-GP care is nowhere to be seen."