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Protest Rally against Attacks on Senior Citizens in Budget 2014 on 22nd October at 1 pm in Dublin

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice

Thursday October 17, 2013 13:00

by Turing

Protest Rally against Attacks on Senior Citizens in Budget 2014 on 22nd October at 1 pm, Dáil, kildare Street, Dublin

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament poses the question

Where has the Coalition’s National Positive Ageing Strategy Gone?

Speaking today in Dublin, Mairead Hayes CEO of the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament asked

“Where have the promises and the actions to underpin this government’s National Positive Ageing Strategy gone?

Remember the slogan in April 2013 at the launch: POSITIVE AGEING- STARTS NOW

Continuing she said “We in the ISCP embraced the fact that the strategy was aimed not just at older people but at how we care for all the people across the lifecycle”. In Budget 2014 we see no evidence that the government accepts its own strategy. The people who need care and need to be enabled and assisted to care for themselves and others were on the receiving end of the toughest measures in Budget 2014.

Continuing she said “we call on government to re-examine these proposed measures”

The sick, the frail, the poor and older people who fit all of these descriptions have had prescription charges increased from €1.50 per item to €2.50 which is a 500% increase since the Minister was appointed. In May 2011 the charge was€0.50 per item and the Minister said he would abolish it. This charge applies to all those who have a medical card.

Government announced they are going to take the Over 70s medical cards from a further 35,000 older people by changes to the eligibility criteria. Last year they took cards from 30,000 older people.

The decision by the Minister for Social Protection to abolish the bereavement grant is a further major blow to older people who have saved for their burials but would have factored in this grant. Death of a loved one is very distressing and for the costs involved we ask the minister to reconsider this measure.

The abolition of the telephone allowance might seem slight in monetary terms however many of the security and monitoring devices which older people have installed in their homes rely on landlines especially in areas where broad band coverage is poor. Replacements or changes to these systems would be costly and the supply has been affected by severe cuts to the community groups who supply them.

We urge government to reconsider their older, sicker and poorer people of all ages and to reconsider the implementation of these measures.

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Comments (2 of 2)

Budget Protest

by Sean O Riain

Mon Oct 21, 2013 12:45

While I fully support the Budget protest on 22nd, I feel a little uneasy on focusing on ourselves alone. I think we must strongly support unemployed people under 25 whose allowances were cut so drastically.

We must also protest at the reduction in overseas development aid.

This is a mean vindictive budget

Attacks disabled and sick too

by Iris

Tue Oct 22, 2013 13:04

Children and Adults with a disability or long term illness are being attacked just as badly as pensioners. The media are not highlighting that the 150,000 discretionary medical cards the Govt. want to withdraw are from people with disabilities and long term illnesses who need medication and the telephone allowance is also being removed from people with disabilities and carers as well as from the elderly, these cuts disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.

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Protest Rally against Attacks on Senior Citizens in Budget 2014 on 22nd October at 1 pm in Dublin

Comments (2 of 2)