MY BUDGET: PENSIONER:THE BUDGET has hit the most vulnerable members of society, according to pensioner Matt Lacey.
"I feel they've certainly hit the very, very vulnerable like the elderly people," he said. Although social welfare recipients will get a small increase, it's not "an awful lot".
"With gas going up, electricity going up, all these things, let's be quite honest about it, they are hitting the very, very vulnerable," he says. "Isn't it always the case?"
He is distinctly unimpressed with the €7 increase in the weekly State pension. "I think from a realistic point of view they could have given €20, or even €10," he muses. "I don't know where they got the €7."
He says he is fortunate enough to have another pension from his former employment, but acknowledges that others his age are not so fortunate, being completely reliant on the State pension.
"When I look at people, they don't have what I have, €7 wouldn't go very far," he observes.
He is firmly of the opinion that the Government could have targeted the wealthier sections of society in this Budget.
"Without a shadow of a doubt they know exactly who they could hit," he said.
"With all the money that was wasted under this regime . . . it really has me mesmerised that these guys can get away with this."
The announcement that members of the Government and Ministers of State will take a 10 per cent pay cut didn't impress him in the slightest, as he felt they were merely following the lead of the leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny.