Sep 14, 2015:

Christmas Bonus Restoration "Not a Guarantee for Re-Election" Says Active Retirement Ireland

Active Retirement Ireland (ARI), the country's largest community-based older people's organisation, has today welcomed reports that the extra State Pension and Social Welfare payment at Christmas time is to be partially restored in next month's Budget, but warned that it was not a "guarantee for re-election" due to the cuts imposed on older people over the course of the last five years.

"Everyone is aware that the last Budget before a General Election is often a 'giveaway' budget with concessions made to various cohorts to make them look on the incumbent government favourably," said Peter Kavanagh, Head of Communications & Public Affairs for ARI, "But the Government needs to know that a partial restoration of the so-called Christmas Bonus, however much it will be welcomed, falls far short of removing the burden older people have shouldered through the recession and will be seen as a vote-buying stunt by those who have suffered the most under the current administration."

Reports in the Irish Independent stated that Minister for Social Protection and Tánaiste Joan Burton will re-introduce a €115 per person payment for pensioners at Christmas time, approximately 50% of the Christmas Bonus removed by the previous Government in 2009, and an increase on the partial restoration announced last year. This is a welcome move, but not enough to restore income equality, according to Kavanagh.

"With the cuts to the Household Benefits Package, the removal of key payments and the reduction in the Winter Fuel Allowance, among other hardships endured by older people, pensioners are down about €13 per week from 2008," he said, "That's before factoring in a higher cost of living and additional taxes and charges on things such as property and water. Any respite is welcome in a climate of austerity, but the Government needs to realise that this is not a guarantee for re-election, and that the people who have suffered the most in the last few years will not be swayed so easily."




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