Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee and for their opening statement. I want to come back to the issue of a lower entry age. This has been raised in a number of submissions we have received. I understand that many people who go to secondary school and college might do a bit of part-time work here and there and it fluctuates. I understand all of this. The other side of this is that we need to train people on pensions. It has not been the norm until now and, as has been said, it has not worked. People have not sought a pension. We need to educate people on the importance of supplementing their State pension in retirement. There is this side to it. Mr. Duggan said the Department looked internationally and found that a number of countries use a similar entry age. This is not the impression ICTU gave us last week. I got the impression that a number of other OECD countries have an entry age lower than 23. What are the countries that have an entry age of approximately 23?

People start paying PRSI at 16. I know the option will be there to opt in but I am not sure whether many 16-year-olds will even be aware they will be able to do so or would bother at that age. Perhaps some will. I do not see any reason people should lose seven years of pension contributions between the ages of 16 and 23 when they are paying PRSI and contributing. They will not be able to contribute automatically to a pension unless they decide to opt in themselves. I would like more information on those countries with an entry age of in and around 23.

The issue of the income threshold beginning at €20,000 was raised. How was that figure of €20,000 reached?

Mr. Duggan said there are complexities with including the self-employed. This issue has been raised a number of times by various organisations. Can those complexities not be overcome? What level of work was done on that? How was the 0.5% maximum fee reached?

The ICTU representatives who appeared last week recommended having trade union representation on the central processing authority. It would be important to have them as a voice for workers on that authority. I ask the departmental officials to give consideration to that recommendation.