Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept all that but I went to the coalface on this particular issue several times in the most demanding and sensitive of cases where a family had to split up for a particular reason - it was a real reason - and move to a different part of the country. The family rented a house there and rented their own house to somebody else. They did it for reasons of necessity. There was no other way to do it. They were out on two counts, however, and I do not think that should be the case. If the legislation dictates that, I believe that we, as legislators, need to revisit that. It is grossly unfair that people, very often women, should be penalised in that fashion. I can think of a couple of cases off the top of my head where the maximum hit took place against a person in a vulnerable situation and there was no comeback.

Another notable issue relates to people who make self-employed contributions. If they do not make a profit in each of the years in question, they are not allowed a pension or their alleged entitlement for that year is disallowed. I hope that is a correct summation. I know of a good few people who have been the victims of this. A person may have made contributions for ten years or 20 years or whatever the case may be, but if there were five years during that period in which the person made no profit, he or she would have no contributions for those five years.