Policy

(Monday 16 Ocotber 2023) 

The Need for a Cost of Ageing Study Highlighted by Age Action’s Report Spotlight on Income in Older Age  

To mark International Day for Eradication of Poverty, Age Action published Spotlight on Income in Older Age—The State of Ageing in Ireland 2023 which reveals the importance of social protection for us all in older age. 3 in 10 people aged 66+ rely on social protection for over 90% of their income and a further 4 in 10 people aged 66+ rely on it for more than half of their income. As a result, older people highly value the Irish state pension, as well as ‘precious’ supports such as Medical Cards and the Free Travel Pass. 

(Sunday 8 October 2023) 

Age Action, Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation for older people, is calling for the government to stop cutting the spending power of the State Pension. Age Action’s analysis that the rate of the State Pension needs to go up €30 per week just to maintain the same spending power that the pension had in 2020.

(Wednesday 19 July) Age Action is asking Government to raise the full rate of the contributory State Pension by €30 per week to restore its 2020 spending power, as a first step towards benchmarking the rate at 34% of average earnings, which should be achieved by 2026 as a ‘living pension’ alongside the introduction of the new national living wage. 

(Monday 26 June) Spending on old age social protection is among the lowest in the EU and the Government could well afford to honour a commitment to bring the state pension rate to least 34% of average earnings, a meeting of the Pensions Promise campaign in Cork was told today (Monday, 26th June).

(21 June 2023) 

Responding to reports on RTÉ about the findings of the review of the National Independent Review Panel (NIRP) into allegations of abuse at a HSE run Nursing Home Age Action said ‘the reported findings that women who disclosed allegations of abuse and assault were not believed and therefore the appropriate actions were not triggered should be a watershed moment in how older people are treated in our society, particularly in a health care setting.

(Sunday 18 June 2023) 

SIPTU representatives will join the National Women’s Council, Age Action, Active Retirement Ireland and members of the Senior Citizen’s Parliament to launch a Pension Promise campaign in Dublin tomorrow (Monday, 19th June). The campaign is demanding that the Government honours its promise of a state pension rate of 34% of average earnings and to halt the alarming number of people experiencing real pension poverty in Ireland.

(Thursday 23 March 2023)  Responding to the announcement that rental income will not be charged to the HSE under a revision to the Nursing Home Support (‘Fair Deal’) Scheme, Age Action said that older people will be put at risk of financial abuse because appropriate supports and safeguarding measures are not in place.

(Tuesday 21 February 2023) 

Age Action welcomes the government’s recognition that the current rate of the state pension is inadequate in the face of the increased cost of living and that many older people need additional supports.  

(31 January 2023) Age Action is reiterating their call for Government to set up a Commissioner for Ageing and Older persons to bring an appropriate level of insight, representation and transparency to policy on ageing and older persons, and to help prevent scandals such as the recent revelation of a secret state policy to deter older persons from taking cases to challenge being charged for nursing home care.

(07 December 2022) 

1 in 4 people experience age discrimination according to Age Action’s new poll Are We Ageist?, conducted by IrelandThinks, with people who were unemployed more than twice as likely to experience age discrimination as people with any other work status. ​

“Age Action is working to reframe how we think, feel and act towards older people and ageing in Ireland, so we commissioned a public poll to understand the degree to which we hold ageist opinions in our society. The public poll reveals that most people in Ireland hold some ageist opinion with people aged 18-34 more than two and a half times as likely to agree with three or more ageist opinions” explained Celine Clarke, Head of Advocacy and Public Affairs at Age Action.