Wallace welcomes imminent green paper on pensions challenge
Meath East TD, and Minister of State, Mary Wallace said that the number of people over the age of 65 will treble over the coming decades to over 1.5 million and that this will bring challenges for the country with regard to pension provision for our senior citizens.
The Minister for Social Affairs launched a publication on older people entitled, "A Social Portrait of Older People in Ireland" which analyses the current position on older people and will assist in the designing of better policies to meet the needs of an increasingly ageing population over the coming decades.
According to the publication, currently there are over 460,000 people aged 65 or over, and over the coming 50 years that figure will rise dramatically to over 1.5 million men and women. This means that meeting the cost of State pensions, for example, will spiral from the current rate of 4.3% of Gross National Product to almost 14%. In that time we will go from the current ratio of four people at work for every person over 65 to two workers in 20 years time and then to close to a one-to-one situation in 50 years.
Over the past decade the Government has made great strides in improving the incomes of older people. The value of the State pension has been increased by over 120% and is now €200 a week or more. Some 400,000 people, mainly older people have free telephone, TV licence, electricity and gas allowances and an increased fuel allowance while more than 420,000 are entitle to Free Travel which, from April 2nd, will be extended to allow them to travel free anywhere on the island, North and South.
State incomes and supports for those now in retirement are steadily climbing and the biggest challenge right now is that 900,000, some 500,000 of whom are women, are gradually heading towards retirements in which their main source of income will be the State pension. After layers of research and analysis over the past two years the Government is now getting close to making the major decisions that will pave the way for solutions. Within weeks the Government will publish a Green Paper that will set out all the options for pensions.
Minister Wallace said that the reality is that this pension challenge is looming nearer and the Government is committed to ensuring that the Green Paper will handle this issue appropriately.
"It's marvellous that in modern day Ireland we are enjoying a quality of life that means that we can expect to live longer and healthier lives than our parents and grand parents. It is important that in our senior years we are treated fairly and with dignity and to feel secure to enjoy our retirement so that we can focus on the opportunities that it brings", said Minister Wallace.
"A new advice booklet and resource pack published by the Citizens Information Board called Information Age - How to Access Senior Citizen Benefits' will be of interest to older people because it will be a valuable guide for older people to their entitlements and a source of information on the many other supports that are available. The booklet will be widely available - it will be posted to all social welfare pensioners and distributed to other pensioners through the network of welfare offices, Citizen information Centres and voluntary organisation", said Minister Wallace.
Minister Wallace said that the booklet should help avoid situations where older people do not avail of their entitlements and other services because they were not aware of them.