Hayes urged to apologise over cut suggestion

Delegates at a meeting of the Age Action group yesterday demanded an apology from junior minister Brian Hayes after he appeared to suggest that the free travel scheme could be curtailed in the upcoming budget.

Up to 300 members of Age Action, attending a special event at Croke Park yesterday, voted to demand an apology from the Fine Gael minister of state, whose party colleague Regina Doherty TD said he had been giving a “personal opinion”.

Ms Doherty, one of a panel of speakers at the Croke Park conference, reiterated the view of Social Protection Minister Joan Burton that changes to the free travel scheme were not on the table.

On Mr Hayes’s comments she said: “He caused serious offence [but] he did not mean to do that.”

She said it was not government policy to alter the free travel scheme and that economically it would make “no sense whatsoever”.

Another speaker, Independent TD Finian McGrath, said: “I do think the Government are flying kites in the run-up to the budget.”

He also said he was not confident that the Government would “hold the line” against demands from the IMF to revise payments such as the state contrib-utory pension.

Those attending the conference also said they believed policies should be “age-proofed” to protect vulnerable old people.

Age Action yesterday launched a national petition called Protect the Dignity of Old People, calling for key supports for the elderly to be protected in the December budget.

Age Action chief executive Robin Webster said: “We believe that older people, after decades working and paying their taxes, should be entitled to live with dignity.

“If proposed cuts materialise, the rights and entitlements of older people will be set back by decades, and the ability of some older people to live independently at home will be seriously undermined.”

In addition to criticism from Age Action, the Government was taken to task yesterday by disability and mental health campaigners.

Nine groups, including Care Alliance Ireland, Inclusion Ireland, and the Disability Federation of Ireland, said the Government needed to halt reductions in the basic standard of living of people with disabilities, protecting welfare supports, ensuring funding for the services needed by people with disabilities, and acting on an implementation plan for the national disability strategy.

Elsewhere yesterday, the executive director of the Centre for Independent Living, Gary Lee, urged the Government to guarantee that existing funding for the personal assistance service would be ring-fenced and that extra funding would be made available to tackle waiting lists for the service.