We cannot plunge pensioners back into poverty

PROFESSOR John FitzGerald of the ESRI and a number of other economic commentators have suggested recently that the Government should examine the fairness of exempting the state pension from cuts in the forthcoming budget. They use the argument that it was spared in recent budgets, so it should be in the firing line in December.

As a charity working to improve services and policies for older people, we welcome this debate. But there is a need to present the reasons why the state pension has not been cut to date, and should not be cut in December. The single greatest argument is that the state pension is a vital buffer to protect pensioners from poverty. Any tampering with it in the budget would cause increased hardship for some older people.

The stark reality is that more than half the pensioners in Ireland are dependent on the state pension as their sole means of income, and this situation is unlikely to change for the rest of their lives. This fact has been ignored in the debate to date.