Mr. Fergus Whelan:

I will set out the way the worker would see it. Most workers who leave work at 65 years have been paying vast sums of PRSI, insurance against periods of unemployment. It would appear to a worker in that situation that the entitlement for nine months is only right, particularly if he has worked for 40 years and had never claimed unemployment benefit in all that time. It would be a bit much for someone to pay for 40 years and never get any benefit from those payments.