Ms Naomi Feely:

Coming back to the Deputy's question on the dementia strategy, my understanding is that there is an implementation plan. While we have the national positive ageing strategy, a big issue on which Age Action Ireland has campaigned is the lack of an implementation plan for it. As far as I am aware, there is an implementation plan for the dementia strategy. We have only finite resources for our own work. We tend to collaborate with Alzheimer's Ireland a lot. It has done quite a bit of work on this area so it might be worthwhile for the committee to link in with Alzheimer's Ireland too.

The transition pension was abolished in budget 2014, I think, or perhaps it was in the previous budget. It is no longer available to recipients. It is a big issue for us that a public sector worker is required to retire at 65 but is not entitled to a pension until the age of 66. We hear a lot from people who are forced to retire from their jobs and have to go to the social welfare office and apply for jobseeker's benefit there. As the committee is aware, there are conditions attached to that benefit. We are aware - it was in a newspaper article a few years ago - that people are not really forced to go out looking for a job. Nonetheless, it seems a little unclear to me. We have done quite a bit of work around the issue of mandatory retirement and have called for its abolition. That would be the key issue in respect of the transition pension which, obviously, is no longer available. There might have been one or two people still on the payment in 2015 but that is not the case for this year or last year.

The point about secondary cuts is very important. Our work on previous budgets highlighted that while the State pension was protected, when we added up all the little income cuts such as the fuel allowance, the abolition of the telephone allowance, and the changes in the electricity portion of the household benefits package, older people who were solely relying on the State pension and those supports were facing a cut of €13 per week. That was on top of the introduction of the carbon tax. We also had water charges. A lot of fear was created among our members. Our submission last year called for the reintroduction of the telephone allowance. It is a vital support, allowing people to stay connected through pendant alarms, to phone younger relatives abroad and so on. This year, we are focusing on the fuel allowance and the living alone allowance. The living alone allowance was introduced at a rate of £6, which was converted up to €7.70 when the euro was introduced. Since then, we have only seen one increase, to €9. The Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice research from three years ago indicates that it should be around €11.50. We will be emphasising the issue this year and teasing out the costs. Individuals living alone are facing the same costs as a pensioner couple.

Was there another question from Deputy Cullinane?