Pensions: FF and PDs take a leap in the dark

THE PDs have promised to raise the State pension (formerly old age pension) to €300 in five years’ time.

Fianna Fáil will raise it at least to €300, or by just over 43%.

Great — if I live that long.

I presume they have peered into the crystal ball, maybe even studied the figures and considered price trends over the past few years.

And from all of this, they might extrapolate the cost of living from now until 2012. So before I get carried away, perhaps they can answer the following questions and put my mind at ease:

How much will a litre of milk coast in 2012? And a loaf of bread? A pint of Beamish? A unit of gas or electricity? A ticket for the Munster hurling final. Maybe they’ve checked with the Irish Examiner for its likely cover price in 2012 or, perish the thought, the cost of a death notice in it?

The opposition are more circumspect with their pension offers. I wonder why.

Eamonn McCarthy

Tara Lawn

Glasheen Road

Cork