Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of quick points, including the one that Deputy O'Dea picked up on. I am aware of the debate in France, for example. There was a lot of simplistic coverage about retirement at 55, but in many cases they were talking about people who had worked for 40 years since the age of 15. We should examine the question holistically in terms of what people have been doing, while recognising care as part of that.

Mr. Moran discussed the double-bind highlighted by the 2012 changes.

There is a potential interim position whereby the 2012 changes are suspended and not introduced until we address the question of introducing total contributions and created a new system. I appreciate the concerns highlighted by Deputy O'Dea. I agree with him that we must be careful when deciding the type of total contribution to adopt and what it includes. There is a contradiction. It seems unusual to have introduced and further imbedded a new measure in 2012 that was based on an averaging system acknowledged as being unfair. Introducing a new measure to provide for total contributions or subsequently strengthening or adding bands would be counter intuitive. I wonder about that position.

Concerns have been expressed about PRSI. In order to be realistic about our ageing population and to plan for the future, should we increase PRSI contributions now because a second tier system may take years to introduce? An increase now would mean we would not seek an increase after the fact.

Does Age Action Ireland find the current tax reliefs defensible when we have recognised inequities in the first tier system? A rate of 33% was mentioned by the organisation. Does the organisation think we should move entirely to a standard rate of tax relief in the medium-term?