Age Action’s Advocacy and Public Affairs work
Age Action’s Advocacy and Public Affairs team works to achieve fundamental change in the lives of all older people, and to secure rights to comprehensive and high quality services to meet all of our needs as we age. Age Action is Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation for older people, working to build a stronger voice for older people.
We make recommendations to Government, public services, and private sector organisations for change to create a society that enables all older people to participate and live full, independent lives – both now, and in the future.
Our advocacy and policy work is grounded in the lived experience of growing older in Ireland. Older people can participate in our Voice Forum which works with the Advocacy Team to develop and participate in our advocacy work. If you’d like to get involved in Voice, please contact our Policy and Engagement Officer, Ciara Monaghan at ciara.monaghan@ageaction.ie or 01 4756989.
Age Action’s response to Budget 2027
This year’s budget was an opportunity for Government to put a stop to the rise in poverty among older people.
Age Action’s assessment is that the tax and welfare measures announced in Budget 2027 will leave older people on lower incomes struggling to make ends meet.
You can read our response to Budget 2027 here:
You can read our submission on budget 2027 here:
Participation Charter for Older People
For Age Action, participation is a core value.
We work together. We encourage teamwork, inclusion and meaningful collaboration. We promote people being heard, having a voice and influence as we age.
We build our advocacy work on the experience, concerns and contributions of older people, and collaborate with others who share our purpose and values.
With the support of Community Foundation Ireland, we have been working with the Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament on a project to build a stronger voice for older people in decisions that affect them.
We are pleased to publish an important output from that work: a Participation Charter for Older People. This is a practical guide, based on ten participation principles, that community groups, NGOs and charities, public service organisations, and policymakers can use to ensure that older people’s voices are heard – and valued.
We have also created a shorter leaflet outlining the key principles and practice of the Participation Charter.
The Charter is grounded in the views and experiences of older people across Ireland who participated in the project survey, and draws on a wide range of Irish and international rights and equality frameworks.
We are grateful to the Community Foundation Ireland for funding this work, our project partners, the Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament, and most of all, to the hundreds of older people whose views formed the foundation of this work. We thank our project consultant, Noelle Carizzo of Mosaic Social Impact, for her work with us throughout the project.
Age Action will be using this Charter in our own work with older people, and with those who make decisions about ageing and older people, to embed meaningful participation with older people in their work.
Rising poverty among older people
The Central Statistics Office Survey on Income and Living Conditions shows that older people, particularly those living alone, faced a growing risk of poverty in 2025.
Older people living alone had the highest rate of income poverty in 2025 at 30.3%, increasing by 4.4 percentage points from 2024, and almost 2½ times the income poverty rate nationally.
Almost one in five (18.3%) older people living alone, and one in ten (9.8%) couples with at least one person aged 65 or older, had to go without essential items because they were unable to afford them – this is called ‘enforced deprivation’.
One in ten (9.8%) older people living alone were in ‘consistent poverty’ in 2025 – meaning they suffered both income poverty and enforced deprivation.
While one-off cost of living measures have reduced the poverty risk for older people in recent years – by 5.9 percentage points in 2025 – the failure to replace these supports with permanent and targeted measures in Budget 2026 means that older people will face a growing risk of living in poverty in 2026.
Presentations to Oireachtas Committees
Research and Submissions
Engagement
Advocacy & Public Affairs Contacts
The work of the Age Action policy team is supported by the Scheme to Support National Organisations, funded via the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, and administered by Pobal.
- Phone: 01 4756989
- Email: advocacy@ageaction.ie