We must unite for better future for all ages

Patricia Conboy, a director of the Older & Bolder alliance, which campaigns for the rights of the elderly, responds to an article by Evening Echo columnist John Dolan. Mr Dolan argued that families are taking most of the pain in this recession while pensioners are not asked to contribute to the economic rebuilding job. . 

‘The headline ‘Pensioner Power is running the country while families suffer’ over a column written by John Dolan (March 3rd) certainly got my attention.   Older people may have been a handy scapegoat for John on that day, but of course they are not the source of the problems we now face. 

Many of the myths currently in circulation about older people are based on misinformation. 

Only five per cent of older people are in the top income group in Ireland.  The majority are highly reliant on the State Pension and other social supports like the Household Benefits Package to protect them against the risk of poverty.   Figures from the Central Statistics Office for 2010 showed that 93 per cent of older people would be at risk of poverty without social supports.  Ten per cent of older people remain at risk even after they have received State Pension and social supports.

Times are hard in post-Bailout Ireland, and they are hardest of all for people on low income, regardless of age.  

Older people, like everyone else, have been hit by new and increased taxes like the Universal Social Charge, Household Charge, higher VAT, by increasing health insurance and energy costs and by cuts to frontline health and community services.

But as a country we won’t recover from this economic crisis if we channel our energies into establishing fictitious and acrimonious divisions between people of different ages.

Our families include people of all ages, young, middle-aged and old.  Older people can see for themselves the financial and social pressures their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews are under.

In fact, in most cases, older and younger people are each other’s greatest allies.

We all know that there are gaps in our childcare system and we also know that those gaps are frequently plugged by grandparents who mind children while parents work.

Equally we can see that when an older person needs to be cared for at home due to disability, illness or frailty, the bulk of that care is provided by their spouses and their families, often under huge pressure.  It is left to them to plug the gaps when State systems are inadequate, as is the case unfortunately with our system of home and community care at present.

This mutual support between generations  is how strong societies work.  

Effective State systems of care and support benefit people of all ages.   We go through the life cycle making our contribution and receiving support in ways that are appropriate to our age and needs as children, adults and older adults. 

During our working lives, we contribute to the State Pension, the Health system and other social supports through PRSI, income taxes and also the essential roles played in families and communities.    We make our contribution, financial and otherwise, in the trust that we will receive support on retirement when we most need it. 

People are not born age 66.  Each of us will come to that age – if we are lucky enough to survive – with a track record and the hope that our track record will count when we need it to count.   Our best bet is to defend the systems which will support us, not to undermine them. 

Ironically there are far reaching changes being introduced to the Contributory State Pension which will affect people of working age today.    The age at which you can collect a State Pension will increase from 65 to 66 in 2014 and to 67 in 2021.

The qualifying criteria for a full Contributory State Pension are also becoming more stringent.  From this year,  people will need a larger overall number of PRSI contributions to receive a full pension and people with breaks in their PRSI records - for example  women who have taken time out of the labour force to mind children or older relations -  may  face a serious shortfall in their income.   

These changes – which have not yet been the subject of wide debate - have largely gone under the radar for many people.   Yet forty one per cent of women and twenty per cent of men over fifty who are working today have no occupational or private pension and will be relying on the State Pension when they can no longer work.  These changes will affect people close to retirement age immediately.

There is no doubt that ageing brings its own unique challenges.

When Older & Bolder commissioned a poll asking people to identify the bad things about getting older, fifty percent said that illness, either mental or physical, was the biggest drawback of ageing. 

So the feeling of security that health care needs will be met when we are older is important.  So is a sense that you can rely on a State pension after a life-time of working and contributing to society in a variety of ways.

We can all argue over who has suffered most from the cutbacks.  But that’s cul-de-sac thinking.  Who wants to waste time going down a cul-de-sac when what we need is to pull together to secure a better future for people of all ages?

The best way for the Government to deal with the challenge of population ageing in our society is to take a planned approach and Older & Bolder welcomes Minister Kathleen Lynch’s stated commitment to publishing the National Positive Ageing Strategy this year.

On one thing however, John Dolan is right.  When older people protested at the withdrawal of the over 70s universal entitlement to a Medical Card, most of us applauded them.  Four years later, we should still do so.   It was a worthwhile demonstration in support of a worthwhile goal. 
When the current group of older people act to protect a benefit for older people, they are also aiming to protect those benefits for future groups of older people. 

This year is the European Year for Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity -  a  time for people of all ages to stand together to defend social supports.

[This article appeared in the Evening Echo on Thursday 26th April 2012]