Irish Senior Citizens Parliament

Lobbying Organisation Irish Senior Citizens Parliament

Date published 21 Sep, 2020

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Budgetary matters

Period 1 May, 2020 to 31 Aug, 2020

Specific Details The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament submitted our Pre-Budget 2021 ASKS to the Department of Employment Affairs & Social Protection on all the areas relevant to Older People.

Intended results That in Budget 2021 the State Pension there would be increases for Older People especially in the State Pensions where we asked for an increase of €10 per week as none had been given in 2020 and that the Pension be paid at age 65. An increase of €5 in the Living Alone Allowance and that the limits for Drug payment & Prescrption charges be set for them at 50% of the rate for a couple. That the Fuel Allowance be increased and the Additional Payment at Christmas be maintained at 100% rate.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Mairead Hayes

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? Yes

What is the directive you gave to the grassroots campaigners? We sent a Pre-Budget leaflet to our affiliated organisations and asked them to bring the contents to the attention of politicians.

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (100+)

We emailed our members and asked them to contact their local areas. Due to Covid-19 restrictions their face to face meetings with local politicians in some cases were not possible however many did contact them by telephone and left messages for them.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Jacqui MCCrum Assistant Secretary (Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection)

Heather Humphries Minister (Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection)