PENSIONERS ARE RILED UP

Forced to go on dole with pension age rising to 68

FINE Gael has infuriated many elderly voters by sticking to plans to continue pushing up the age by which they can claim the state pension.

At the moment it is 66, and ministers plan to push it up to 67 next year, and 68 in 2028 – but many still retire at age 65.

This means they are forced to sign on the dole, which only lasts for nine months anyway until it starts to get means tested.

After coming under intense public pressure during the General Election campaign, the Government has been forced to re-introduce a pension transition payment. But Age Action, a charity for older people, said Fine Gael was only acting after the pension age became a key election issue.

The elderly had been severely let down by the Government, said a spokeswoman, who added: ‘Older people are used as pawns in elections where promises of an annual fiver top-up on the pension are meant to earn votes.’

Fianna Fáil spokesman on social protection Willie O’Dea said the sudden announcement of the transition payment for people who have retired at 65, but cannot yet get the state pension, is a ‘panic reaction’ after Fine Gael felt the public anger.

‘I doubt they even consulted with the Department of Social Protection before they announced this,’ he said.

Adding to the pressure is the fact that many are forced to give up work at the age of 65 whether they want to or not.

In 2011, the Fine Gael-Labour coalition legislated for the phased pension age increase, at which time there was a transition payment that kicked in if you retired at 65.

But when the pension age rose to 66 in 2014, the transition payment was abolished.

Anyone retiring before they can claim the state pension now has to apply for Jobseeker’s Allowance, which lasts for nine months and is then means tested.

Labour yesterday conceded that the change should now be revisited. The party’s social protection spokesman, Senator Ged Nash, told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘We need to revisit some of the decisions forced on Ireland during the economic collapse.

‘That’s why we want to stop the increase in the state pension to 67 next year. This was put into law in 2011, but times have changed and Ireland is in a much better position now,’ he added.

However, on Sunday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisted that leaving the state pension age below 67 would be ‘irresponsible’ and that ‘reforming makes sense’.

He said: ‘If pensions are going to be sustainable into the future, we will need to increase the pension age along with life expectancy.’

Though Fine Gael plans to press ahead with a policy to increase the pension age to 67, it now proposes to introduce a transition pension or an early retirement pension for those who are contractually forced to retire before their state pensions kick in.

Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty said yesterday: ‘People have been telling me it is not fair that, having worked 30 or 40 years, that some people will be forced to sign on to the Live Register.

We recognise that, so we are going to re-introduce a pensions pathway or transition payments that does not have the conditions attached like the Jobseeker’s payment to the habitual residency rule, because we know that pensioners want to travel and they should be allowed travel.’

When asked where the money would come from to fund the transition payment, she said: ‘The social insurance fund came under incredible pressure during the great recession and I want to make sure that never happens again.

‘The total contributions model of how we manage pensions and we calculate pensions will be brought forward and come into play this year,’ the minister added.

Angry voters told Joe Duffy on RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline that the Government kept changing the terms of when people could expect to receive their state pension.

Tony Glancy, 65, started working aged 14 and has found himself in limbo while he waits to receive his state pension.

He said: ‘I was an apprentice carpenter and then I left and went into the elevator industry when I was 15. I’ve already had somebody at the door and I’ve complained to them about it – I’m annoyed.

‘I saved, I planned, I’ve been frugal and had money in the bank – now I’m being penalised by the State,’ he added.

‘I’m being penalised’