John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome Mr. Moran and Ms Feely. I have heard their contributions at the Committee on Social Protection and am familiar with their work. I thank Age Action Ireland for the work it does for our older population. Older people have been hit detrimentally by the changes introduced in budget 2012. One of my first pieces of work as a newly elected Deputy was to bring forward a motion on pension equality and fairness, which sought to address some of those changes, particularly for female pensioners. The witnesses' submission today highlights those changes from budget 2012. It shows that 62% of recipients receiving the non-contributory pension were women. The Government knew exactly what the repercussions and implications of this measure would be, and that it would increase the pensions gender gap.

The qualifying age for the State pension was also increased to 66, as Ms Feely just said. People have worked all their lives and paid their contributions, yet at the end the goalposts have been shifted. They have been forced onto jobseeker's payments. The latest figures from the Department show that at the end of January this year, there were 5,239 65 year olds forced to sign on. That should be enough to set off alarm bells. We know the impact it has. People who should be receiving their State pension in full are receiving about €40 less on the jobseeker's payment. Many of them never signed on for social welfare before in their lives. I brought forward the pensions equality and fairness motion to try to address these anomalies and reverse the unfair changes that were made in 2012.

Unfortunately, it was defeated not just by the Government; Fianna Fáil voted against the motion as well. That would have been an ideal opportunity and an ideal starting point to-----