Decisions taken in the forthcoming Budget to address Ireland’s economic crisis must be taken in a way that also protects the country's most vulnerable people, a charity for older people warned today. Aoife Carr, Irish Times, reports:

"The focus in the run up to the budget has been on the need to address the country's economic difficulties and restore economic stability," Eamon Timmins of Age Action, told the Minister for Social Protection Eamon Ó Cuív at a pre-budget forum in Dublin today.

"But the Government also has a major responsibility to address these issues in a way that also protects the most vulnerable in society. The economic crisis cannot be used as a reason to abandon the most vulnerable of older people who are dependent on the State for their quality of life," he said.

He urged the Government to maintain the State pension at its current level and warned that there should be no question of means-testing the contributory State pension.

"The State pension is a vital support," Mr Timmins said. "Two-thirds of pensioners are dependent on it as their main source of income."

The charity is calling for a €3 per week carbon tax compensation payment for each pensioner household, the restoration of the Christmas bonus and the protection of other supports such as the qualified adult allowance and the over-80s allowance.

Source: www.irishtimes.com