‘How are we supposed to live off €200 a week?’

ELLEN REDDIN lives alone in Ballymun, Dublin, and wonders how she is going to be able to afford her retirement.

“I am 67 so I am only an apprentice old age pensioner. At the moment I am trying to find out how I am supposed to live off the pension.

“I really don’t know how, in the name of God, I am going to live off it.

“The price of light, gas and electricity has gone through the ozone layer but I’d love to see earnings going the same way.

“We have heard that (Finance Minister) Brian Cowen is going to raise the pension to €200 a week but I wish he could tell me how we are supposed to live off that.

“It changes when you get older. When you are younger and you have got kids you are able to rob Peter to pay Paul and find the money from somewhere.

“When you are on the pension you can’t do that.

“I read recently that the suicide rate among old age pensioners was on the rise and I am not surprised because it is not easy.”