Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been very impressed by the two presentations from Ms Burke and Ms Heaney. I missed part of Ms Burke's presentation because I had to rush out for a few moments. I endorse the comments made by the Chair and Deputy Kerrane on pensions. I will not repeat all of them. An existing problem I find is where one of two partners who are both on pensions dies, the income reduces from almost €500 to €250 but the same electricity bill has to be paid as do all of the other bills such as refuse. The bill for food does not change much really because the consumption of food by older people is lower. This is a huge area. I get up to half a dozen representations a year, which is significant, from people who all of a sudden find their income has been cut by half and they have no reserves. They find themselves in real difficulty. It is a very sad situation. Even though these people have wonderful families and wonderful sons, daughters and grandchildren who would help, in their pride they do not want to ask their children or grandchildren. This is a very important issue. I know it will be taken up with regard to getting the message across to people to put in place extra savings or pension for such an eventuality. I would like to hear the comments of both witnesses on this.

Deputy Kerrane referred to the deficit in Ireland regarding explaining the importance of preparing for pension time. Admittedly, people, including me, are careless for years about it because it does not bother us. We find at some stages in our life that we cannot afford it and it is not a priority. It has already been said this morning, and all of my Oireachtas colleagues know it, that when people come to us with a pension issue they want to hand us the paperwork and ask us to deal with it. They do not want to deal with it. This is not a criticism of people. As has been said, many people do not understand the structure of pensions. Is there any way we can simplify it to brass tacks so it would be easier to explain to people? The letter from the Department can be rambling. Sometimes it decides not to send out a letter but to make a phone call. I have to say I find the Department and the Minister very helpful but rambling letters do not make sense to people and frustrate them more. Simplifying it would be very important.

Would Ms Burke be willing to make presentations to local authority members? They make representations to me on pensions. I am thinking about how to get the message out. Would this be something worth examining? I know Ms Burke will have a lot of work to do and this would involve communicating with many local authorities. Would it be an idea that she could make a short presentation to local authority members?

I thank the witnesses. Listening to the paths as to how they got here is very enlightening. We have two excellent people in the positions and I mean this sincerely. I thank Ms Heaney for her observations.