Budget is ‘absolutely pathetic’ for pensioners

STATE pensioners and welfare claimants will be worse off after failing to get an extra fiver for what would have been the fourth year in a row.

Hikes in the cost of living are expected to erode the gains of recent years that pushed the State pension to its current level of €248.30 a week.

There is some small consolation as the Christmas bonus will be paid this year and the fuel allowance will rise by €2 a week.

Employment Affairs Minister Regina Doherty said the new spend for her department in 2020 was “significantly down” on last year.

It has fallen by €190m from €361m to €171m.

Ms Doherty said the Government had adopted a “calm and steady as she goes” approach to protect the most vulnerable, while “battening down the hatches” to be ready and waiting for those who could be hit by a disorderly Brexit.

The slashed social welfare budget comes as a contingency fund of €365m is being put aside for workers who may end up on the dole, and another €45m to help jobseekers.

There is a limited range of measures in the budget to benefit those on low incomes.

They include a €5 hike in the living alone allowance and a €10 rise in the working family income threshold for families with up to three children.

The hot meals scheme will be extended for 35,000 extra schoolchildren.

Siptu general secretary designate Joe Cunningham said under the proposals most recipients of social protection will suffer real cuts in their living standards. He said this was because inflation, including the carbon tax increase, eroded the value of their weekly rates.

Age Action criticised the Government “for being content to keep older people hovering on the poverty line”.

Chief executive Paddy Connolly said its failure to hike the old-age pension contradicted its commitments under the national pensions strategy.

He said reducing tax breaks for private pensions could have allowed the Government to tackle significant income inequality among older people.

“The Government’s own national pensions framework committed it to benchmarking the State pension at 35pc of average weekly earnings,” he said.

In order to move the current pension toward that target, his organisation had called on the Government to increase the payments by €9 a week.

The Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed said it was disappointed that there was no increase to jobseeker payments.

It welcomed the Christmas bonus and hike in fuel allowance.

“But it should be noted that only a third of the people in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment are eligible for these supports,” it said.

The Labour senator and spokesperson on employment and social protection, Ged Nash, said the Budget failed social welfare recipients and those on low incomes.

“Inflation of 1.5pc is expected next year but if you are a carer, a pensioner couple or someone with disabilities you will have to live on less in 2020,” he said. “In the real world this is a cut in all but name.”