Pensioner's in Northern Ireland have taken to the streets to demand a bigger increase in the basic state pension.

Around 200 elderly people braved the wind and rain yesterday to raise their concerns during a lunchtime rally at Belfast City Hall.

The rally was organised after the state pension was raised by £4.55 a week yesterday with protesters saying this was not enough.

Elderly people living in the north get less than half the pension of their counterparts across the border.

This means the full basic state pension is now £95.25 a week, falling to £57.06 for people who do not have a full National Insurance contribution record, many of whom are women.

Protesters demanded that the basic state pension be raised to at least £165 a week and raised every year in line with either average wage rises or inflation.

Dorothy Hanna, president of the Northern Ireland region of the National Pensioners Convention, who organised the rally, said pensioners were being forced to live in poverty.

“We are not looking for the earth but we are going to continue to ask for £165 a week until the government meets what we need,” she said.

Finance minister Nigel Dodds backed the calls from the platform.

“The link should be restored with either earnings or inflation, whatever is highest, so that it is at a level that lifts people out of poverty,”the DUP MP said.

Bill Carson, chairman of Age Sector Platform, told the crowds it was not just a concern for the elderly.

“Young people need to get this resolved or else there will be people in their thirties who are standing up here protesting about the same thing when they are our age,” he said.

Among those braving the elements was 80-year-old Susan Cochrane from north Belfast, who said she was finding it hard to cope on her pension alone.

“Your pension just about gets you by,” she said.

“You used to be able to buy yourself a new coat or go on the odd day trip out but now all you’re doing is counting the pennies.”

For 67-year-old James Hunter from Newtownabbey, it was his first time ever attending a rally.

“I feel very strongly that the increase in the pension should cover the real rate of inflation,” he said.

“Pensioners don’t buy iPods. They buy food and heating oil and it is getting harder to get those basic essentials.”