Elderly express fears over budget

PENSIONERS fearing cuts in next month’s budget have pleaded with the Government not to attack their income and supports.

An “open mic” meeting hosted by Age Action heard a series of speakers express fear at what awaited them on December 7 when state pensions, fuel supplements, home help services, subsidised phone calls, free TV licences and rural transport schemes could all be hit.

Retired schoolteacher, Padraig Heeran, described as “obscenities” the state cars and generous government pensions that politicians enjoyed while many older people were afraid they would not be able to heat their homes.

“They are so out of touch with our anger and our worry,” he said.

He became emotional when he talked of the future for his granddaughter who was in her final year of an engineering degree. “She has worked very hard and her prospects are very poor.”

There was some disappointment with the turnout to the meeting, which attracted an attendance of less than 100 – a far cry from the hundreds who gathered in a church two years ago to protest changes to the medical card and the thousands who marched on Leinster House a day later.

Nick Corish, 86, said he feared people were becoming dispirited. “I have seen very, very bad times in the ’50s and in the ’80s but I have never seen anything like the despair that there is at the moment,” he said.

“We the elderly have become so disgusted and so resentful and so fearful that we no longer are able to fight.” He urged his peers to regain their fighting spirit, warning thousands of pensioners living on the edge of poverty would be pushed over if threatened cuts become a reality.

Pat Kelly from Cork city, a pensioner who spent 24 years caring for his elderly parents, also urged people to rediscover their outrage, saying he feared the partial carer’s allowance introduced in 2006 to help welfare recipients caring for family members would be targeted next month.

“Carers work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. We are the only people who work for our social welfare.”

Sheila Fanning from Dublin pointed out that the €300 that TDs were allowed claim in unvouched expenses each week was more than many pensioners’ total weekly income. “Yet we have to pay the same price for electricity, the same price for food. They don’t live in the real world.”

All the political parties were invited to the meeting but Fianna Fáil sent no representative. Labour’s Roisín Shortall and Sinn Féin’s Aonghus O Snodaigh said their parties were committed to protecting state pensions.

Independent TD Finian McGrath said he would consider all aspects of the budget before deciding whether to vote with the Government but he said: “If there is any attempt to cut the pension, no way will I support it.”