Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was part of keeping the pension age at 66. It was also believed to be a fairer system, when we were bringing in the pension for carers of more than 20 years. We are giving people the ability to work a little longer so contributions could be increased to get a bigger pension. In addition, it is anticipated that it will save somewhere in the region of €40 billion by 2070. It is all added up. It is all as a consequence of not increasing the State pension age and leaving it at 66 that we had to make these decisions.

Most pensions are calculated under the yearly average first. We do not know how the total contributions will actually work. We do not have those figures but we will see if we can find them. Is that all right?