Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My question is on the basic arithmetic, and goes back to the question on figures raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett. Mr. Gaynor said that around 1,400 people join the pension system in this way every year, and the day after their 65th birthday they become eligible for the State pension. There is a sense that the change was brought in to save a lot of money. However, if the number increases for two years cumulatively - let us say 1,400 leave work one year and another 1,400 leave work the next year - and that is multiplied by 288, then one gets around €800,000 in a full year. On the other hand, the State loses tax revenue amounting to, give or take, a couple of hundred thousand euro. Really, the saving involved, from the figures given to us by Mr. Gaynor, is possibly around €500,000 per year, so one would wonder-----