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Senior Citizens’ Lobby of Fine Gael Ard Fheis, University of Galway.
“End this blatant and ageist discrimination against pensioners!”
After Storm Kathleen forced the parliament to postpone a larger lobby of the Fine Gael Ard Fheis, the ICSP’s national co-ordinator, Pat Mellon, led a skeleton delegation of retirees from all four provinces to the fringes of Mr Harris’ inaugural convention as leader.
The Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament (ICSP) and its Collective Network of Retired Workers’ Organisations called on the Taoiseach-in-waiting, Simon Harris, to reverse the government’s opposition to a Private Members’ Bill aimed at giving pensioners’ representative bodies a voice at all employer-union talks which pose a threat to their pensions. This is an ongoing campaign and pensioners are not going away until the Bill is passed.
They reminded passing legislators and delegates that government opposition to Deputy Bríd Smith’s Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) Bill 2021 has mired it in legislative scrutiny for over a year.
Speaking to the delegation, Mr Mellon said:
“The passage of this Bill would finally address the suppression of pensioners’ rights by the Industrial Relations Act of 1946. It denies pensioners any say when decisions about their occupational pensions are being made by employers – including the state – trustees and trade unions.”
Paddy Fagan retired Dublin Airport Authority Staff member reminded the Fine Gael delegates to the Ard Fheis, that he along with over 3,000 fellow-members of the Retired Aviation Staff Association (RASA) had to raise almost three million euro to fight a 9-year High Court battle in a failed bid to recover cuts to their pensions of up to 20%. They were imposed on them by pension trustees, employers and the state following approval by trade unions they once belonged to.
However, twelve days ago, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said the action confirmed that Irish law is consistent with European law in conferring on pensioners a constitutionally protected property right to the money they saved in their pension trust.
Writing to Euro-parliamentarian Clare Daly – herself a member of the IASS pension scheme and former Aer Lingus Employee – the Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets said the 2020 judgement was consistent with the case law of the European Court of Justice. Mr Mellon said:
“This exclusion of the pensioners of state-owned companies like Irish Shipping, the Dublin Airport Authority/Shannon Airport, Aer Lingus (now privatized) and the ESB, has resulted in significant losses of earnings for tens of thousands of retirees and their dependents. The state’s reprehensible practice of freezing pensioners out of key decisions on their fate in old age persists. But it’s worth underlining that most victims were auto-enrolled. Contributing to the schemes was a generally a condition of employment. They did this with a reasonable expectation of a fair return after retiring.
Similarly, retired civil servants reasonably expect that parity with pay rises for their still-working colleagues will continue.”
With regard to compulsory Pension Enrolment, Joe Little of the RTÉ Retired Staff Association, explained to TD’s and delegates alike; “If Mr Harris’ government is serious about last week’s decision to introduce compulsory pension enrolment for up to 750,000 uncovered private sector workers, it must follow Bríd Smith’s lead and give retired people a voice in decisions impacting their income on retirement. Otherwise enrolled employees will be press-ganged into buying a pig in a poke.”
The Senior Citizens’ Parliament calls Brid Smith’s Private Member’s Bill an Irish charter for pensioners’ civil rights. “It’s time for all TD’s and Senators to support it or face the wrath of the most dedicated age-cohort voters in the land at the coming elections. If the government continues to oppose Deputy Smith’s Bill, why would any private sector worker not avail of the two-yearly opt-out clause in the draft auto-enrolment plan?” Mr Little asked.
“As the law stands, it would be a rational response.”
GREAT SCHEME UNTIL THE STING IN THE TAIL AT RETIREMENT
When we think of getting older and retiring, more often than not we think in terms of a more relaxed phase in our lives, where we get to travel for a little more than the ‘week in the sun’. We see ourselves with free time and money for hobbies and new interests. This is the reward for a lifetime of work. All of the above requires an income that allows us to live in relative comfort. As the state pension provides a top rate of €277.30, which a huge number of pensioners don’t qualify for, another source of income will be required to provide for the comforts we would wish for.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that while pension coverage is at 56%, it still leaves around 750,000 workers in the State with no private pension – a high percentage of whom are on lower incomes. This means that many will be completely reliant on the State pension when they get older. However, as the full State pension is just €277 (top rate) a week, many workers could see a major reduction in their living standards when they retire. This is against a background of people at 30-40 years of age in rented accommodation and only now being able to apply for a mortgage. 44% of first-time buyers are over 35 years of age when applying for their mortgage loan. They are facing the likelihood of still paying this off at 70 years of age with the retirement age and state pension age at 66 years. This sets the context for the need for another tier of income for the many workers who are not as yet part of a retirement/occupational plan.
Cue Auto-enrolment: Minister Heather Humphries announced that this legislation would be introduced by end of March and move swiftly through the Oireachtas after the Easter recess.” As I have told my officials, I will sit in the Dáil and Seanad day and night to get that Bill enacted as quickly as humanly possible.” Minister Humphries. This action is commendable and while there are many critiques of aspects of the pension scheme (in particular the administrative process), there is no doubt that a second tier of pension is needed.
However, the willingness to ensure legislation is in place to guarantee people are well served in their older years sits a little uneasy, with the many millions of older people who have financially contributed all of their working lives to an only second-tier pension. This came with the promise and commitment of ‘a retirement income’ based on those contributions. This sadly is not the case. As Tony Collins from ESB retired staff notes:
“When you are in employment you are represented by your trade union, but when you retire you have no representative voice”.
We have been fighting for over ten years to ensure we can have our voice heard when Trade Unions and Employers are discussing issues that affect our pension. We have had no success. This has resulted in a loss of pension income for many of our members. This is echoed by many retired staff associations; RTE, RASA, Bord na Mona, CIE alongside many, many more. The Alliance of Retired Civil Servants are in a particular bind as they do not fit the ‘legal’ description of workers and have no rights at all.
What is harder to grasp is the outright opposition of this Government and lack of support for a Bill before the Dail for the last two and half years. It would give those very rights to older people to have a voice at the table. As Eileen Sweeney from RASA notes;
“There is no other cohort of people who are denied a collective voice relating to their income.”
Sue Shaw (Pension spokesperson) speaking for the collective network with the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament asks “Why would anyone agree to have their money stopped throughout their life and then be told that you have no say when you retire. Apart from being ageist and lacking in equality, it would be utter madness’
We urge that this issue be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Survey for a Healthy Ireland in 2025!
We want to make a real impact on the Health Budget for 2025. In order for Government to plan Budget 2025 accurately, we must remind them of the reality of growing older in Ireland and the numerous hardships older people are now facing. People are living longer and numbers of older people are rapidly increasing. We have a right to live a healthy life and sufficient access to healthcare and support which can help us to age in place and reduce the pressure on our overloaded health system. In order to do that, we need to hear directly from you and your lived experience within the Irish health system. We have put together a survey to assess both the immediate and long-term health needs of older persons in Ireland including medical, dental and homecare. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes and your answers will directly impact our submissions to Government for 2025, i.e. we will ask for exactly what you need on your behalf. The more people we hear from, the more precise these asks will be.
You can access the Pre-Budget Health Survey by clicking HERE
2025 Pre-Budget Submission to the Department of Social Protection
In order for Government to plan Budget 2025 accurately, we must remind them of the reality of growing older in Ireland and the numerous hardships older people are now facing. We conducted a survey to assess both the immediate and long-term needs of older persons in Ireland and to allow us to hear directly from you about your lived experience. We wish to take this opportunity to thank all 554 ISCP members and older persons who took part in our surveys. Because of you, we were able to formulate an accurate depiction of the living situation of older people today and ask for exactly what you need from Government in order to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
You can access a copy of our final pre-budget submission to the Department of Social Protection below.
2025 Pre-Budget Submission to the Department of Social Protection
We value your time and we value your voice. Thank you for speaking up and including your needs in our submission to Government for 2025.