Mr. Eamon Timmins:

On behalf of Age Action, I thank the Chairman and the committee members for this invitation to be here. The cumulative impact of a succession of austerity budgets is taking a very heavy toll on older people who are being forced to make drastic decisions to make ends meet. We carried out a nationwide consultation between February and April 2013 when we were preparing our pre-budget submission. It involved asking people whether austerity affected them and the actions they are taking to deal with it. We were shocked by the results. Although we work with older people every day, we were genuinely taken aback by some of the things that came back in the questionnaires. They ranged from people going to bed at 7 p.m. to remain warm, to people sitting with hot water bottles and turning off the heat, to people choosing between food and fuel, to people who could no longer afford to keep their pet. Our pre-budget submission highlights how older people on fixed or falling incomes are being hit on four sides as a result of austerity. They are being hit with new taxes and charges, cuts to their income supports, rising prices for essential goods and services and cuts to publicly funded services on which they depend to remain living independently in their homes. Faced with growing pressure from all sides, many older people are being faced with very tough decisions as to what to pay for and what to do without.

Our submission smashes the myth that older people have not been affected by austerity. That myth is out there and is being perpetuated time and again. If we do nothing else, we would like to say that the poorest of older people who are dependent on the State for their basic needs are among those who have been hit hardest by austerity. If we get no other point across, it will be a very good day's work for me. On the income side, fixed pensions are expected to pay a series of new taxes and charges. Property tax is equivalent to two or three weeks' pension for many older people. The prescription charge was trebled in the last budget. It only affects the sickest and poorest. The carbon tax has been extended this year and will be doubled in the forthcoming budget. The increased charge on a person’s home under the nursing homes support scheme will increase from 15% to 22.5%. At the same time, key supports for older people are being cut. The means-tested winter fuel allowance was cut by six weeks, the gas, electricity and phone allowance under the household benefits package has been cut, there have been cuts in the respite care grant and funding for the home adaptation grant, and there has been the loss of waivers for bin charges. The list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, prices for essential goods and services are soaring. This pre-budget submission was compiled in April and we looked at key prices going back to 2008 and 2009, which was the last time the State pension increased. We are particularly worried about the cost of energy. Electricity prices have jumped by 32%, gas prices have increased by 26% and home heating oil has increased by 25%. These energy figures do not include the latest increases, which were approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation in recent weeks.

The other element of austerity is that key services on which older people depend have also been cut. An example would be home help hours. In 2007, the HSE provided two million more home help hours compared with today. Austerity is also taking a psychological toll on older people. It was very clear from the submissions and questionnaires that older people are uncertain about what the future holds. Many of them feel guilty and that they are a burden on society.

Our pre-budget submission features 32 recommendations. I will not go into them all but what we are asking the Government to do in this forthcoming budget is to ensure it poverty-proofs all measures and not just those related to older people in order that the most vulnerable in society are not penalised further. We need to protect the State pension because it is the bulwark against poverty in later life for the majority of PAYE pensioners. We need to reverse the cuts to the household benefits package. If we reverse no other cut, we must reverse the cut to the means-tested fuel allowance for the poorest of older people. We need to ring-fence the carbon tax in order that it goes into home insulation programmes. The original intention of carbon tax was to protect people. We are also looking for a property tax exemption for households with an income of under €12,000 per annum and the scrapping of the 4% interest charge. We have not received figures back from the Revenue Commissioners. Our experience is that very few older people are taking that up but are going without to pay their property tax. A copy of the full submission has been sent to the committee and is available on our website.