Mr. Kieran Mulvey:

Obviously the issue of pensioners is always emotional. It is a period where people are most vulnerable. That is their income for life and determines their lifestyle. I always say to people who are thinking of retiring early to remember that their pay will be cut in half and to ask whether they will change their lifestyle by cutting it in half. It comes as a big shock to people when that happens at a particular stage in their career. The Deputy is quite right about An Post. An Post has an extraordinary history of long service commitment to the postal service. I sign these acknowledgements every so often. Yesterday, I think I signed about 17. I look at the service. There were 41 years, 46 years and, in fact, somebody had 47 years' service. I sign our acknowledgement of that and how we deal with that. The Deputy is quite right that they have that very strong loyalty. People are proud of it.

It has gone through a few manifestations. An Post was separated from telecoms, and then there was the sad history of telecoms afterwards. Thank God we did not go that route, with what happened and the multiple changes. I did the Waterford Crystal pension scheme many years ago. It was another debacle but we managed to extract a settlement relating to that. I will take this up with management and see if there are ways by which this can be addressed. Pensions are always a minefield of expectation, entitlement, perception and actuality, which is what actually happens.

I am certainly not unused to pension disputes. Let me put it that way. I have been involved in a few such disputes. I will undertake to look at the issue.