Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

Last week, Age Action, the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, Active Retirement Ireland and the trade union SIPTU, launched their pension promise campaign. The campaign is to hold the Government to account on the promises made in the pension reform policy, A Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-2023. The policy states the State pension should be indexed at 34% of average earnings and tied to the consumer price index on average earnings. That commitment would put our State pension at €310 per week, which is €45 more than it is now.

Before the last budget, there was a call from groups such as Age Action, the Disability Federation of Ireland, Threshold, Irish Rural Link, Barnardos and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to increase welfare payments by a minimum of €20 a week. This was explicitly called for not as an increase but to allow people to stand still during the cost-of-living crisis. Instead, the Government gave a below-inflation €12 a week increase. Age Action called this: "a political choice to cut the living standards of older people". It was, and not just for older people but anyone who relies on a fixed income from the State, a political choice made by the Government to make the people who are least able to deal with the cost-of-living crisis poorer.

Over the past two years, there was a sharp decline in living standards for many in this country. We have seen poverty rates and homelessness go up. More people have to choose between food and energy and more people are in utility and mortgage arrears. The Government has not just overseen a massive step back in the quality of people's lives but has voted for it. It is its policy. Last year, the number of older people at risk of poverty increased by 55,000 compared with 2021. Consistent poverty among older persons rose by a third. Enforced deprivation among older persons rose by more than a half. One in three older persons living alone is at risk of poverty. It was up to one in five in 2021. In addition, many older people are now facing notices to quit following the lifting of the eviction ban.

This is not acceptable, not for our older people and not for one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is far past time to see the increases in the State pension that were promised in 2018 and that we indexed our social welfare rates to a minimum standard of life that allows proper quality of life, which would mean no person relying on a fixed State income needs to live through the harm of another cost-of-living crisis. Does the Taoiseach stand by that promise made in 2018, when he was previously Taoiseach, to increase the State pension to 34% of average earnings? Will he support the pension promise campaign?

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