Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before Ms O'Connor leaves I thank her for her presentation. I agree with the broad thrust of the excellent analysis from both the National Women's Council and Social Justice Ireland.

Dr. Healy touched on a good point that was picked up by Deputy Calleary. I hope it is a matter that the committee will consider. It is extremely frustrating what happened this year and even last year. Some of the presentation of the budget document changes every year and, therefore, is difficult to follow. This term we are well used at analysing the fiscal space, how much is available and where it is but one cannot find it in the document without the expertise or help of the general secretaries of the Departments, who very much engage with us but that is after the fact. A lot of this is about controlling the narrative. This is the first year that the full-year effects were not produced. I believe it was a political stroke because it would have made it very clear on budget day that not only was the Government committing the 2017 budget but more than half of the 2018 budget. We raised this matter a number of weeks ago and the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has amplified it today. The numbers should have been made available. I hope that the committee can do something in respect of this type of work.

I would welcome the updated paper on pensions. The issue has been raised by the National Women's Council as well. I ask Social Justice Ireland to submit the updated paper to this committee for consideration.

I shall start with the pensions issue and the statistics. One proposal that we included in our alternative budget this year was on the discrimination between the pension system. We proposed that the pension band rates be returned to their pre-September 2012 position because women, in particular, were discriminated against because of yearly average contributions and would be on a lower rate as a result of the changes in 2012. I wish to say to the National Women's Council that the issue has gained no traction in the public domain. It is a terrible inequality that needs to be addressed. Simple issues are put forward such as, for example, that standardisation is bad because one will lose a few euro if one is getting a pension or paying into a pension in the first place. The rates, pension bands and what happened in 2012 has become very complex for people to understand. Earlier the council cited some staggering figures. It stated that 84% of people who receive a full State contributory pension are men. That fact needs to be put up in lights and stated repeatedly. I ask the National Women's Council to elaborate on the universality of pensions and, in the interim, to address some of the issues that took place in the past that would generate a direct benefit to females and access to full State contributory pensions.