Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have had calls from and have spoken to elderly senior citizens - people in their 80s on social welfare payments and on the State pension. Ms Feehily will be aware that people at that hour of their lives do not want bills hanging around. They feel that they may not get through the pearly gates unless everything they owe to God and man is paid before they leave. I have put it to these people that they may not want to defer the payment because there will be interest due on it in several years’ time and possibly someone else will have to pay it after they pass away. Most old people like to pay a bill the day they get it because part of the psyche of being old is that one does not want bills hanging around that are not paid. It makes no sense to talk to people in their 80s about deferring. That is not where they are at in their minds. They like to get the bills out of the way.