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Election 2007

Election issues for older people

The forthcoming General Election at last presents a golden opportunity to older people to take positive action on issues which have bedevilled them for the past  ten years.  Every election is a time to call the current administration to account, when what will count will be your vote – not the value promises of politicians and Government Ministers.

Among the issues which we believe retired members of the Union should consider when deciding on their vote are:

Pensions:

They are now at about 34 per cent of average industrial earnings, but it took eight years of agitation to achieve this since this figure was first recommended by the Pensions Board.  But the Board recommended in 2006 that the figure should now be 40 per cent, but the Government is again talking about ten years to achieve this.  Can we wait that long?

Health Service

In spite of the establishment of the centralised Health Service Executive, the situation in our hospitals, out-patients’ and community care continues to be in a shambles, with bureaucracy rampant, nurses overworked and underpaid, overpaid consultants calling the tune for their private patients at the expense of the public service and taking 20 per cent of the beds in public hospitals for their private clients.  The latest threat to the public health service is the Minister for Health’s determination to build private hospitals on land owned by the public hospitals.  The much vaunted roll-out of medical cards to those in need just hasn’t happened.  The two-tier system is alive and well.

Nursing Homes

The scandals in the private nursing homes sector continue because of the failure of proper inspections.  Now it is proposed that while there will be a cap on charges from 2008, if you are unable to pay all your maintenance  charges, the State will follow you beyond the grave to sequester up to 15 per cent of your property, to the detriment of your children.

Waste Charges

The present administration has presided over the  scandalous and systemic dismantling by Local Authorities of the public waste collection service throughout the  country by handing it over to private individuals who have made fat pickings from the charges they impose and by their refusal to give waivers of these charges to pensioners  - a right previously  granted by the Local Authorities.  Minister Martin Cullen conceded the system was unjust and should be covered by a special benefit under the Social Welfare code:  later, Minister Dick Roche dismissed the idea out of hand!

Travel

Have you a nice shiny Travel Permit sitting on your mantelpiece which you have never been able to use?  Then you are a victim of the woeful lack of public transport in rural Ireland.  The Department of Social Welfare has failed to provide vouchers which could be used for taxis to bring pensioners to the nearest public transport.

Poverty

Over 40 per cent of Irish people over the age of 65 have incomes below the average Irish income and we are notorious in the European Union for the inadequate level of our health and social services.  Inadequate social housing and heating, lack of sufficient care in the community and lack of public transport in rural areas contribute further to poverty levels, particularly amongst the elderly.

Your Experience

No doubt each reader has his or her own experience of these issues.  When your local friendly candidate calls smiling to your door ask what his or her political party – particularly if they have been in government - has done over the past ten years to address these injustices?

Then decide what policies – not just persons – you will vote for.




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