Positive Ageing Week
Connecting Generations
26th September – 3rd October

Age Action expresses disappointment at failure to protect older people’s income Age Action has expressed its disappointment at the failure of Budget 2026 to protect the incomes of older people, or to make progress on addressing the health and housing needs of the older population. Budget 2026 was a missed opportunity. Age Action’s Head of Advocacy and Public Affairs Camille Loftus said: “While Government was clear that this year’s Budget would not include ‘one-off’ supports, these were to be replaced with targeted and permanent measures. But this did not happen for older people in Budget 2026. In our pre-budget meeting with Ministers Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe Age Action stressed that older people, particularly those relying on the State Pension, were deeply concerned about how they would meet their costs in the absence of these ‘one-off’ supports: inflation may have fallen, but prices have not. The €10 increase in the State Pension will not bring the rate any closer to the benchmark level recommended by the Pensions Commission – 34% of average wages.” The only other measure included in Budget 2026 for older people was an increase in the rate of Fuel Allowance. Older people are more likely to live

Action needed to safeguard the rights of older people Age Action calls for urgent response to RTE Investigates revelations on failings in care The appalling practices revealed in last night’s RTE Investigates programme are an indictment of our care system for older people, and indicative of the growing challenge in that sector. Age Action knows that the poor practices revealed, some of which are explicitly harmful, will be deeply upsetting to older people living in, or who anticipate living in, long-term residential care, and to those who love them. It is not reassuring that 17 weeks elapsed following protected disclosures to HIQA before a further inspection was undertaken. These fundamental failures occurred in two homes operated by the largest provider of long-term residential care in the State. Persistent non-compliance had been found by HIQA. Both of these homes continued to increase their resident numbers, without penalty for repeated failure to meet regulatory standards. HIQA notes that the two facilities in the documentary were among 36 homes which had three or more inspections in response to “persistent non-compliance” and that new admissions to one of the homes have now been stopped. “The practices revealed by RTE Investigates represent a fundamental failure