State pensioners robbed to prop up increases for the salaried classes

EAMON TIMMINS of Age Action Ireland (Irish Examiner letters, November 13) says an increase in the State pension to €200 in next month’s budget would not be enough.

Mr Timmins also referred to pension increases in recent years that were not real increases at all, but abysmally failed attempts to restore the purchasing power of our pension that has been lost through inflation.

For many decades, successive governments have been increasing our State pensions by the abominable percentage method. Instead of equal increases for all regardless of income, it was a case of the smaller our pension, the less we got and the bigger the pension, the more they got — the salaried increases were outrageous.