VERY LITTLE HERE FOR OLDER PEOPLE
Critics say plan could leave OAPs ‘vulnerable’
AS THE dust settled on Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s Budget, the Government was accused of using the €6 carbon tax hike as a cash grab while it was claimed Budget 2020 has left pensioners ‘vulnerable to the impact of Brexit’.
Petrol and diesel prices went up after midnight yesterday as part of the Government’s suite of climate action measures in Budget 2020, and home heating oil prices are due to rise from next May.
However, writing in the Irish Daily Mail today, the AA has claimed that the carbon tax hike was an effort by the Government to ‘cynically exploit the climate crisis to justify a tax hike’.
The motoring organisation accuses the Government of caring ‘more about grabbing cash than they do about reducing carbon’, and that they felt this hike will ‘not on its own’ lead people to opt to swap cars for public transport.
Meanwhile, also writing in today’s Irish Daily Mail, charity Alone says older people all across Ireland will be ‘frustrated at this year’s Budget’ as they criticise the decision not to up the State pension.
Seán Moynihan, CEO of Alone, says Budget 2020 has given ‘very little back to older people experiencing financial, health and housing difficulties, and left them vulnerable to the impact of Brexit’.
‘While the Budget addressed issues such as climate change, we at Alone believe that it did not adequately respond to challenges including Ireland’s ageing population and housing crisis,’ he said.
‘We believe that while other sectors have been protected against Brexit, by not increasing vital supports such as the State pension, the most vulnerable in our society have been left unprotected.’
One of the headline features of Mr Donohoe’s two previous budgets has been across-the-board welfare increases of €5; this was not repeated for 2020 as the Budget was framed on a potential No-Deal Berxit scenario outcome.
Dr Seán Healy, the director of Social Justice Ireland, claimed yesterday the choices made in Budget 2020 mean ‘vulnerable people will see their standard of living fall and they will slip even further behind the rest of society’.
‘The cost of living for average Irish households will rise by between €892 and €1,360 a year as a result of Brexit… The poorest 30% of the population spend a far higher proportion of their income on food. Brexit will hit them hardest while they have the least capacity to absorb an increase in living costs,’ he added.
The carbon tax had been set at €20 per tonne, but will rise gradually until it reaches a target of €80 by 2030. And the €90million in new revenue generated by the €6 increase this year will be ringfenced specifically for climate action and transitional measures.
Budget 2020 has allocated €36million for electric vehicles, €30million of which will be specifically for grants for electric vehicles.
In a bid to offset potential cases of fuel poverty due to the increase in fuel prices, the fuel allowance payment will rise by €2 per week from January.
Asked yesterday about the squeezed middle and pensioners who feel nothing has been done for them in this Budget, Mr Donohoe said: ‘The thing that can make the biggest difference, I believe, to the squeezed middle – and I am so aware of their concerns — is having an economy that is able to meet their needs.
‘There is no single Budget that can make as much progress on the needs that you are referring to as can an economy that is stable and growing. And for those who are disappointed with what I did… I’d ask them to consider changes that I have made in the last two budgets.
‘I’d ask them to look at changes I have made in relation to GP care, dental care, in relation to funding the national childcare scheme, in relation to prescription charges and to also say to those citizens that we all remember what it is like when we put in place a whole set of tax changes and reductions that had to be undone all over again.’
The Minister said he is ‘really determined to try and avoid’ a scenario where tax changes or reductions would have to be ‘undone’.
While there was no across-theboard sweeping personal income tax cuts, Budget 2020 did include a €100 increase in the tax credit for home carers and an increase of €150 to the earned income tax credit for self-employed people.
It also included money for extending free GP care to undereights, as well as dental care for under-sixes, a Brexit package of supports of €1.2billion, a 50c reduction in prescription charges and a
It didn’t respond to ageing population Money is only part of elder care issue
€30million plan for expanding medical criteria for over-70s, meaning potentially 56,000 new cardholders.
Speaking on Tuesday, both Environment Minister Richard Bruton and Mr Donohoe robustly defended their carbon tax increase and denied it was a so-called cash grab.
Mr Bruton said: ‘Every cent that we raise is going to be ploughed back into changes that will help decarbonise their lives.’
Meanwhile, Jim Daly, Junior Minister with responsibility for Older People, said a lack of trained staff is as much an issue for elder home care as funding.
He made the comments during the Department of Health’s post-Budget press conference yesterday after it was announced that one million additional home care hours will be provided next year.
Mr Daly was speaking in response to Sinn Féin’s Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty, who said that the home care promise contained in Tuesday’s budget falls 1.5million hours short of what is needed.
Mr Daly said: ‘Money is only part of the problem. If it were going to fix the problem, there wouldn’t be any need for us to go develop and set up a home care scheme.
‘Two and a half years work went into this and we have committed to introducing that in 2021.’