Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I wish to make three points, the first of which is about people who were made redundant recently. This concerns the general social welfare category. There seems to be a discrepancy in how long people have to wait before they can draw down payments. I am aware of somebody who was told he would have to wait for weeks. When he challenged the decision, he had to wait only one week.

The second point is about qualified persons, particularly people in the teaching profession, who are laid off on a short-term basis, or professionals such as solicitors and accountants who are between jobs. They are sent to engage in a review of their training needs, but this seems to be a waste of the Department's time. The people concerned are highly qualified and going to move straight back into the workforce.

My third point is on the issue of class K contributions - 22% of our local authority representatives pay only class K PRSI. We recently carried out a study that compared a councillor and a Senator, both at the age of 66 after ten years' service. The councillor was worse off by €16,500 per year than a Senator who had no other entitlement than an Oireachtas pension. Unlike those of us in the Oireachtas, people in local authorities do not have any pension to draw down. At the very least, there should be an opt-in clause for those who do not pay class A PRSI in some other employment. I know the Tánaiste is interested in this because it affects more women than men, particularly council members who are stay-at-home mothers and who make class K contributions. After 20 years' service they have absolutely nothing for the 4% of representational payment that they have paid in PRSI each year, whereas if they had paid class A or could have opted into it they would have their old age pension. There is an example of a woman with breast cancer who has been cut off the payroll because she cannot now attend council meetings. She is not entitled to disability benefit, yet she has paid exactly the same PRSI as a person in the private sector who has made class A contributions. She has paid exactly the same proportion of her income. That is an anomaly. It is an example of the lacuna I spoke about and does not apply only to Oireachtas Members.