A chara, – Éamon Ó Cuív has muddied the waters of his new oasis of “Social Protection” with his vague, uninformed and misleading commentary on the status of pensioners in Ireland (Home News, May 17th). Mr Ó Cuív states pensions should be protected “as far as possible” while still extolling the virtues of the once two-income family suffering under the yoke of “outgoings . . . predicated on an income they don’t have” as deserving of “priority consideration”.
Would Mr Ó Cuív explain the logic in asking those who have lived a full working life and who have paid contributions towards their pensions to spend their remaining years acting as a financial crutch for the entire floundering economy? Does Mr Ó Cuív realise that those pensioners who say to him that their concern for their indebted sons and daughters is their main worry are already providing supports as unpaid childminders, as financial backers and much more besides, and are not giving the Minister licence to detract from their already impacted quality of life?
The Minister also states that the withdrawal of the extra payment at Christmas is the “only reduction” and that pensioners have been “untouched”. According to research carried out for the Older Bolder Alliance, 84 per cent of older people aged 65-74 years rely on social transfers, including the State pension, to protect them against the risk of poverty and this figure increases to 89 per cent of people over 75. Furthermore, older people are now facing prescription charges, a carbon tax and increased dental charges, not to mention the steady erosion of community and home care services.
To suggest older people have been “untouched” is misleading, and is the sort of comment designed to pit one generation against another and to conveniently remove the focus from a Government which does not seem to appreciate the sacrifices already made on both sides. – Is mise,