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.
Budget 2026
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.
Building a Stronger Voice for Older People
Age Action is working with the Irish Senior Citizen’s Parliament, supported by funding from Community Foundation Ireland, to build a stronger voice for older people in decisions that affect them, and all of us as we age.
We surveyed older people on their experience of engaging with public policy, receiving 764 responses, with a good spread of responses across age groups and provinces.
While most respondents told us they sometimes or regularly engage in consultations, over half felt they were not listened to, or just weren’t sure if their voices were heard.
Older people still expressed a strong appetite for participation, both to ensure their experience and views are understood, and to improve provision for the next generation of older people.
Older people told us they want their experience, insight and contributions taken seriously, but rather than feeling respected, they often feel patronised and infantilised. To build a stronger voice, respondents highlighted the importance of collaboration to achieve impact.
You can read more about the survey and our plans to action it here: https://www.mosaicsocialimpact.ie/have-your-say
Budget 2026
Age Action’s submission to Budget 2026 included a range of recommendations to ensure older people have a decent income, a secure and warm home, and can age in place, receiving the health and care they need in their own homes and communities.
You can read our submission at the button below: Age Action’s Submission to Budget 2026.
Age Action criticised Budget 2026 as being a budget where older people were invisible.
You can read our response to the Budget at the button below. Age Action’s Response to Budget 2026.
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