The General Election Begins: the First Non-Promise Promise
Minister Regina Doherty is out of the traps with an election promise — Fine Gael will increase the state pension by €5 per week every year for the next five years.
That amounts to an increase of €1,300 for pensioners over five years. Sounds like a lot. But there are three problems with this promise.
First, when you factor in inflation the real increase (after inflation) over the five years is effectively nothing. Over five years the real increase will be €40, or about 15 cents weekly each year.
Second, in the Pension Framework the Government committed to linking the pension with the average wage. If this were done the pension would rise by well over €2,000 over five yeas — far above the Minister’s new slimmed down promise.
Third, Fine Gael is committed to raising the pension age to 67 next year. So to get your few cents extra per week you’ll have to work one more year or — if you’re forced to retire at 65 — spend another year on the dole.
What a ‘promise’: abandon your previous commitments, promise a few cents and force people to work an extra year to get even that.
If this is the tenor for the upcoming campaign, this election is going to be a whole lotta fun.
