Pension hero’s FG bona fides

THE man who highlighted how 35,000 pensioners were unfairly having their State pensions docked every week is from a strong Fine Gael background, with his uncle, Seán Mac Eoin, a hero of the War of Independence

Retired teacher Eamon Tynan brought the pensions scandal to national attention last week when he tackled Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe live on RTÉ Radio 1 for failing to reverse the inequity in his budget speech.

The Longford man raised the case of his wife Carol, who is losing out on €35 each week because of the 2012 change to how people’s entitlement is calculated.

Mr Tynan is a nephew of War of Independence hero, Mac Eoin, nicknamed the ‘Blacksmith of Ballinalee’, who later entered politics and served as Fine Gael Justice Minister, and stood unsuccessfully for the presidency on two occasions.

Mr Tynan has described the Fine Gael’s opposition to reversing the anomaly as ‘wrong, immoral and inexcusable’.

A party member for more than 50 years, Mr Tynan told the Irish Daily Mail he is ‘deeply embedded’ in the party, but would not shy away from highlighting injustices. He also hit out at Labour’s Joan Burton, who introduced the change in 2012, but said this week she regrets the cuts and wants them remedied.

He said: ‘She took money from the pockets of pensioners – and she’s meant to be a socialist!’