Seven out of ten over-65s live exclusively on State pension, says O’Dea as he calls for reversal of cuts

Seven out of 10 pensioners live exclusively on the State pension and have no other means whatsoever, the Dáil has been told during a debate calling for a reversal of cuts in the budget to the elderly.

Fianna Fáil social protection spokesman Willie O’Dea accused the Government of presuming “the elderly are some sort of a vast untapped resource, some sort of crock of gold you can access every time you need to raise money”.

He said however the reality was that seven out of 10 people over 65 had no other means but their State pension. “Of the 30 per cent who don’t, you’ll find that many of them have very, very small pensions, even smaller now as a result of the pension levy.”

He said 57 per cent of elderly people suffer from a chronic illness and one-third of them suffer from a disability.

“The reality for many, many elderly people is poverty, cold, inadequate diet, loneliness, isolation and sometimes despair,” he added.

Mr O’Dea was speaking during a Fianna Fáil Private Members’ motion which said society should protect the rights of older citizens and solidarity between the generations and called for all public services to be maintained for older citizens in a fair and progressive manner.

The Government is not opposing the motion, Minister of State for Health Kathleen Lynch said, because “this Government has from the very outset given a high priority to the issues concerning older people”. She said eight out of 10 people aged 70 and over would be unaffected by the changes in the medical card income limits.

Communications plan
She said the Minister for Health had asked the HSE to "draw up a communications plan to inform the public about recent changes".

She stressed that the budget had protected and maintained the State pension, carers’ schemes, free travel, fuel allowance and free TV licences.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher said “the Fine Gael orthodoxy has come through in droves in terms of protecting the elite and not having a fair and progressive approach on how we ask our citizens to carry the burden in addressing the budget deficit”.

The Labour Party “is saying ‘we’re making tough decisions’. There’s nothing tough about taking money off the oldest and most vulnerable in society . . . It’s tough when you take on the elite and powerful in our society. They’re the tough decisions,” Mr Kelleher said.

He said Minister for Health James Reilly had pledged to get rid of the 50 cent prescription charge when he took office “but has five-fold increased it to a maximum of €25 a month”.

He said it was against every policy stated by the Minister for Health both in opposition and in office.