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ALL THE MAIN political parties are to blame for the increase in the pension age, according to People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith.
Speaking at the launch of their manifesto today, she said that the Green Party, the Labour Party as well as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have their fingerprints on the policy change.
The pension age and State pensions has become a big issue in the campaigning for the 2020 general election, with parties trying to both appeal to voters but also acknowledge that the growing population means there might not be enough in the pot for everyone in the future.
With politicians vying for people’s’ votes, all parties are keen to make promises in relation to the age, with a range of different commitments being made.
However, Smith urged voters to remember where this all began.
The Troika days
“This was a measure brought in under austerity by a Green-Fianna Fáil government and then legislated for by a Fine Gael-Labour government, so all of these main parties, that may or may not join together to form a future coalition, have between them loaded the gun and pulled the trigger on the pension age and therefore committed to the robbery of pensioners meager finances,” she said.
The policy change around increasing the pension age began in 2011, when the Labour Party was in government with Fine Gael.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin said this week that the rise in the pension age was agreed by the Fianna Fáil-Green government as part of the bailout deal with the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund – the three agencies known as the Troika.
The Fine Gael-Labour government then legislated for the increased age at which you can start to receive a State pension from 65 to 66 in 2014.
This has resulted in thousands of 65 year olds having to sign on to Jobseeker’s Benefit to get some form of payment before their pension kicks in.
The pension age is set to increase to 67 in 2021, and 68 in 2028 under the same plan.
Smith today urged voters to “pile on the pressure” on all party leaders “to make a firm commitment that they will be held to that they will abolish the rise beyond 65″.
Dun Laoghaire TD Richard Boyd Barrett said People Before Profit were not “johnny-come-lately” on the pension policy, stating that since he has entered the Dáil the party has consistently called for the restoration of the pension age to 65.
He said the party voted against its implantation at the time.
“If this goes ahead workers in this country will be robbed of just under €13,000 per year.
“€13,000 robbed out of the pockets of people that worked and contributed to our society” he said, adding that if the pension age is allowed to rise that will another €13,000 each year.
“That is a scandal,” he said.
Today, Fianna Fáil denied a pledged review of state pension provision is an attempt to kick the controversy over entitlement age down the road.
A plan to increase the qualifying age from 66 to 67 next year would remain on hold until the review was completed, said Finance spokesman Michael McGrath.
He said decisions that would shape pension policy for 30 years should not be made on the back of an envelope or in the heat of an election campaign.
McGrath was pressed on Fianna Fail’s position on the pension age – an issue that has featured prominently during the first week of the election campaign – as he launched the party’s election promises on personal taxation.
The party has committed to undertaking what McGrath described as a “comprehensive” review of the state pension if elected.
In the interim, he said a transitional pension would be paid to those private sector workers who are contractually required to retire at 65 but who currently have to claim job seekers’ allowance – which pays less than the pension – until they become eligible for the state pension a year later.
Last night, Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said Fine Gael plans to introduce a transition payment at the same rate as the State pension to avoid people having to apply for the dole when they retire.
This will apply for those that retire at the age of 66, and not 65.
People Before Profit’s manifesto also commits to building 100,000 public and affordable houses, creating a living wage, abolishing all college fees, and introducing 33 hours of free childcare per week.
With reporting by PA
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They just don’t taste the same since they took the horse out.
People buying *fewer* frozen burgers is surely an unexpected benefit of this debacle? Just hope they’re buying something fresher and healthier instead!
We’ve always made our own hamburger patties. Even growing up in my Mothers home, she made and still does make everything from scratch, even her pizza bases and pasta..
Last night I mad hamburgers for the family.. So quick and easy and tastes even better as you make it the way you like it. :)
The best burgers are homemade no question about it …think I know what I’m cooking tonight now
How anyone can eat that frozen sh1t is beyond me. Saying they are affordable is just a lazy excuse
Fact. Even you use the cheap 20% fat mince in your homemade burgers, you still end up with a healthier and more traceable burger than anything processed or off the shelf!!
Why people eat processed food in the first place is beyond me
It’s not good for ya folks
I used to use weetabix instead of breadcrumbs for the binder. Fantastic texture to the beef patty.
And do you have your own farm and cows? As otherwise you can’t tell what meat you’re using / what was animal fed etc.? That’s about your burgers from “scratch” I’m afraid.
Quick, cheap, usually decent tasting…?
I still buy them. Even if there was horse meat in them sure a but of horse isn’t gonna kill ya.
I still buy em. That’s *neigh* true! I’ll get my coat…
Blessing in disguise, the controversy increased peoples awareness of what was going into their bodies. The people of this country are better off if they take matters into their own hands and prepared food with the raw materials themselves. Overall their is a shocking lack of knowledge of even how the most simple of meals are made.
Hence part of the reason 100 job loses in Tipperary announced….
I gets my burgers from the local horse ranch..giddy up.
Why would anybody but that frozen meat patty crap, when you can crack an egg into a bit of fresh mince and make ur own burgers in minutes 100 times nicer than that frozen plastic muck!
Horse meat is fine, Iv had it, but I was told what I was about to order! Sure thirty odd years ago a chipper in D12 area (now long gone) used to sell batter burgers made of dog food and was caught. People used to love them….specially after a feed of pints!
will the river of mince ever end?
Never have eaten frozen burgers,will only eat fresh if the origin is known,if not, i just wont eat,and that goes for most meats.
well certainly not my flat mate, they’d eat shite and well turns out they do look the worse for wear.
I always make my own. Any processed meat that comes out of a box cant be good.
What a shame. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It leads to the most stupid and damaging overreactions.
The most silly example of this was the Capuchin shelter in Dublin throwing out all of their burgers (many of which would have been kindly donated by members of the public, and gratefully eaten by visitors to the shelter) which they could have given to the needy and which would have done those who ate them not a fraction of harm at all.
Also, how many jobs will be lost in Irish meat factories because of the largely uninformed (a little knowledge being a dangerous thing), negative overreaction of Irish consumers?
That one in the photo needs to go in the freezer pronto before it thaws.
No regulation was to be expected.
Banana republic.
Sure the simple reason why people by less frozen burgers is the fact that most chains don’t carry them no more or in very limited quantities. Great research that is!
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