Leo Varadkar has promised there will be a pension increase in the Budget later this year.
The Taoiseach has fired a very early salvo in the annual budget kite flying contest with the pledge to the elderly that they will be looked after again this October.
It is still nearly 20 weeks until Budget day in the third week of October, but Mr Varadkar has made a pledge in the Dáil that the pensions will be bumped up again.
Read More: More than €5,000 raised for young woman killed after being struck by Garda car
The exact amount of the promised hike will not be decided until the final days before the Budget, as is the norm for pension decisions every year, in around 140 days’ time.
But it is guaranteed that this year’s Budget will be one of the biggest giveaways in decades with the Exchequer awash with extra billions in funds.
Bumper corporate taxes are expected to hit €25billion this year and next, with VAT receipts soaring as prices continue to rise and income taxes likely to hit their highest ever too with more people in work than at any other time in our history.
And this has led to early promises of a bonanza budget.
Fine Gael has led the way this week, being first out of the traps on Monday when three junior ministers announced an intention to give ordinary workers on €52,000 a year an average tax cut of €1,000 a year.
Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach, Mr Varadkar, followed suit in the Dáil yesterday.
He was asked about the pension by Right to Change TD, Joan Collins, who said last year’s €12 hike had not been enough to keep up with crippling cost of living rises.
Mr Varadkar said: “I can absolutely assure the Deputy of one thing: there will be a further increase in the weekly pension.
“That will be in the budget.
“The exact amount has not been decided yet.
“That will have to be discussed between now and October and will have to be seen in the round with other things the Government wants to do.
“There will certainly be another pension increase.
“A decision on that will be made at budget time, as it always is.
Ms Collins welcomed the commitment, but called on the Government to do more.
She said: “It is now 2023 and we are going into the next budget, for 2024.
“The policy states that the State pension should be indexed at 34% of average earnings and be tied to the consumer price index and average earnings.
“As I said, the commitment would put our State pension at €310 per week.
“The increase of €12 per week that was given in the last budget was below the cost-of-living rate.
“It was below the €20 figure that many of the organisations and NGOs which represent people such as Age Action and the National Disability Authority put forward clearly.
“They said the Government made a political choice to cut the living standards of older people.”
READ NEXT:
- Ireland weather: Met Eireann forecasts BBQ conditions as weekend temperatures to reach 22C
- Bosses consider delaying Jonathan Dowdall's prison move until after appeal court date
- Poverty campaigners pitch reduced electricity rates for people on social welfare payments
- Irish taxpayers to benefit from Facebook owner Meta's huge €1.2 billion data breach fine
- Mr Flashy's debt threat to gangland enforcer Scott Capper over €8k as fallout between former best pals revealed
Get news updates direct to your inbox by signing up to our daily newsletter here
