Retired and older people deserve a secure retirement. After a life of work, the right to retire with dignity is not too much to expect.

Currently, older people on fixed incomes worry about how they will afford to put food on the table and heat their homes. Some people are being forced to choose between food and heat. This is not acceptable in a country as wealthy as Ireland.

Retired and older people deserve secure adequate retirement incomes. It’s no more than they have earned after a lifetime of working and paying taxes.

The Irish Pensions Roadmap of 2018 contains a commitment to a state pension contributory payment of no less than 34% of average earnings. It also states that government will institute a process whereby future changes in pension rates of payment are explicitly linked to changes in the consumer price index and average wages. The Government has repeatedly indicated this benchmark as the minimum adequate payment for the state pension.

Retired and older people need that €53 per week in their pockets now so that they can stave off the devastating impact of inflation and the rise in the cost of living.

We demand that the government honours its commitment to a State pension rate of 34% of average earnings. That is why we launched Pension Promise Campaign. Just like the Stop67 Campaign, Pension Promise is part of our Union’s set of demands for fair and flexible pensions for all.

The Pensions Promise Campaign will work with other unions and with civil society allies to ensure that the government’s commitments to retired and older people are honoured.