Mr. John Dunne:

Whatever a lifetime carer is at the end of it, he or she is not rich. Therefore there is not much difference between benefit and assistance in terms of a pension. Looking down the road at demographics and all the other challenges, I expect to see the difference between pension benefit and pension assistance begin to open up. In that situation, wherein somebody has spent his or her life saving the State money, apart from anything else, it is difficult to see why the State would not make the gesture to give him or her the higher amount, partly as an acknowledgement and a validation.