Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the regulatory impact, particularly on social welfare, the best way to frame this is to give an example. I have a couple and the husband has battled with his mental health all his life. He has turned 66 years of age. His wife and partner is a younger woman and still has four years in employment to go and wants to continue in employment. Because he will not have any contributions and is only eligible for the non-contributory pension, he will not receive any pension unless she stops working. From our guests' research in this area, could a case be made specifically on the non-contributory pension, where it should not be based on one's stamps but that one should have an automatic entitlement, particularly if one has had a scenario of long-term ill-health?