Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. What Senator Gavan said was very informative. One other aspect which has not been mentioned is the fact a lot of pensioners work beyond the age of 65 because they want to work. Others do so because of poverty due to the fact they cannot afford to live on a pension and need to keep working to have an income to pay a mortgage or rent. Many pensioners have experienced an increase in rent in recent times. Many older people do not own their homes and may be paying high rents.

They need to stay on in work. They are looking at their income. That is an important point to make and it should be factored in.

We have been restricted in our debate on pensions. The Commission on Pensions had a narrow focus, which was on the basis of age, which it was asked to look at, as well as the fiscal part of it - the financing of it. That has pushed out the whole social contract. Even though it has taken on board some of those social contracts, it could not take others, as it said itself.

Mr. Taft mentioned PRSI and the collective bargaining aspect of it. Will he explain that a bit more? Is he saying he could collectively bargain with employers for a 5% increase in the PRSI levy for employers, but that 2% of that would go into something specific? I want some clarity on that. Where I think the whole process has fallen down is in the issue of universal old age pensions, which the Citizens' Assembly has raised, to deal with inequalities. We know child benefit is the only the universal benefit that we have in this country and it plays a key role in supporting children. I would like Mr. Taft's opinion on the universal old age pension. It was raised in many submissions as well, as far as I remember from reading briefly through some of them. We raised that as an alternative. In New Zealand, you get a universal pension after 20 years’ residency. I would like any of the speakers' opinions on those points.