Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Department for their work. The three main provisions that have been provided for, which are the result of the work done by the Pensions Commission, are welcome and they are a move in the right direction, notwithstanding Deputy Ó Cuív's comments who has experience in this area over a long number of years.

I echo the point made by the Cathaoirleach about the late arrival of the general scheme and how it should be presented to people in a timely fashion. The Cathaoirleach mentioned the general public but this applies to offices and research capacity within all of our teams because the Bill is fairly substantial and is not easily accessible. It is not a good night-time read and requires resources to get to grips with it. Even at that, I have not got to grips with it and a lot of the devil will be in the detail when we reach Second Stage. To allow the public to engage with it in an educated way and allow us as legislators to engage with it in a more comprehensive fashion, it would have been helpful if we had received the general scheme in a timely fashion.

My questions are on the home care credits. The provision to move 20 years' accessibility is very welcome. Will availing of any other social welfare benefit during the 20 years count against the inclusion of those years? I ask Mr. Duggan to tease out the matter in more detail.

Am I correct that a person can work up to 18.5 hours? How will the time be monitored over 20 years? Do we end up facing a cliff edge if someone strays over 18.5 hours? How quickly afterwards does the impact flow? Will the provision create a disincentive to work? If somebody engages in home caring, that is fine and he or she should be rewarded accordingly. One of the things that this economy does not do is value caring work in the way that it should. If somebody is in a position to work more hours, is a disincentive created to engage in that further work by saying that the person will face into a cliff edge in terms of their contributions and pension?