Mr. Tim Duggan:

Indeed. Indexing wages is another possibility and would require us to land on a particular index. While there would be some issues, it could ultimately be done. If we were to choose a double lock, favoured by some, inflation, on the one hand, and wages, on the other, we would have to be extremely careful in how they were put together and over what periods of time we would be willing to make the calculations. For instance, we could have a crazy situation where, for instance, we would take the higher figure of both, a model that is sometimes referenced. Inflation could be high in one year, with wages being relatively low, while the following year wages which tend to lag behind inflation might be high after inflation has come down. While the economy generally might have inflated at a particular level, indexation might result in pension payments being increasingly significantly above it. As such, one would have to look at the issue over a multi-annual period, whatever combination of indexers one would choose. It is obviously something that can be considered by a Minister and a Government and in respect of which we are capable of providing good quality research and figures. Ultimately, however, it is a policy matter and would have to be determined in that space.

I can come back in on details if members wish me to do so, but I will move on for now. The 37% gender gap mentioned by Senator Alice Mary Higgins is taken from the European Union's 2015 pensions adequacy report which found that there was a slightly larger gap across the Union as a whole than in Ireland, which is interesting. The gap is widest in countries such as Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, which is also interesting. These are well developed economies which, in some cases, are better developed than ours or, certainly, have been developed for longer. Interestingly, the countries with the smaller gaps were at the other end, including Estonia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, some of the newer member states. The important point is that it does not relate only to the state pension but to all pensions. It is a measure of history in that it reflects what went on in the past. Many households worked on the basis of the breadwinner model in which women were carers in the home or homemakers. That, in turn, is reflected in the gap owing to the earnings related element of pensions. The state pension works differently from occupational pensions in that sense. Consequently, the difference in pensions paid by the Department to those over 66 years is nowhere near 37%. In fact, it is approximately 2%. In other words, the average male pensioner - I am talking about averages - is paid an amount that is approximately 2% higher than the amount the average female pensioner receives in the State pension.