John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will afford everyone an opportunity to speak but I want to make some general comments. From the committee's point of view, the presentations made by the witnesses were certainly eye-opening. Most of us were unaware of the lower-end pensions referred to, whereby people from semi-State bodies are on pensions that are less than the State pension. Ms de Buitléir indicated people are on pensions that are 20% less than €12,000. That was an eye-opener. Mr. Kelly gave us averages on others. This type of information has been very useful to the committee because it is not something of which we would generally be aware.

The committee is also concerned about the lack of access and information and the difficulty with this. As the witnesses indicated, people can go the legal route if they have very deep pockets but it is not a route that most people can access. The presentations have been very helpful and informative.

Deputy O'Dea referred to the minimum funding standard in quite a level of detail and colleagues have indicated from their own point of view that on Committee Stage of the Bill they would be prepared to table and make amendments. That is the way legislation works. It is worth noting that the more consensus there is the greater the opportunity for amendments to be successful so that is quite important.

On the final page of Mr. Kelly's submission he set out seven issues. From our point of view it would be useful to understand the Government's response to these issues and we will communicate with the Minister directly. We will keep the witnesses informed. I do not suggest she will be supportive or otherwise but the Minister's position on these points would be worth having. When we get the responses we will correspond with the witnesses to keep them in the picture.