The Progressive Democrats have promised to increase the State pension to €300 a week if it enters Government after the next election.
Michael McDowell
In a 36-page supplement taken in today's Irish Independentthe party advertised their wish to increase the old age pension by nearly €100 a week.
The move is seen as a pitch to the older generation and to counter the party's recent weak showing at the opinion polls.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning Tánaiste Michael McDowell denied that the move represented "auction politics".
The PD leader said: "It's not a question of buying votes, it's a question of doing justice to those people in our society who have worked in the past many of them at periods when the country wasn't doing so well.
"It's not offering money, it's telling people what they are voting for," he added.
Mr McDowell said the money for the pension increases are based on a five-year programme taken from a conservative outlook of economic growth in Ireland.
The move follows the Labour Party's promise to cut the standard tax rate from 20 per cent to 18 per cent within two years.