Ms Clare Duffy:

I will be very quick in answering the question on pensions and the size of the group affected. I hate answering a question by saying that we do not know but, unfortunately, we do not. We have had this discussion with members of the Pensions Commission. We do not know how many carers have fallen through the net. Essentially, there are two groups of carers. There is what we believe to be a very small number of carers, mainly women, who qualify for neither the contributory State pension, because they have not made enough contributions, nor the non-contributory State pension, because of the assets of their partner. They get nothing and have fallen through the gap. In addition, there are many more carers, again mostly female, who have been on a reduced pension by virtue of the fact that they have spent so long caring. Therefore, there are two cohorts, one very small and the other much bigger.

The best way for us to secure a person's eventual pension entitlement is through work. Most carers stay in work if they can. We need to support them to do that. This committee could examine the EU directive on work-life balance for parents and carers, which is due to be transposed into Irish law by August of next year. It should consider some of the provisions of that directive. It states that, at a minimum, carers should be entitled to five days' carer's leave per year. That should be paid for; it should not be out of the carer's pocket. Factors like these should be considered. Let us support the carers to stay in work where they can and, where they cannot, support them through adequate social welfare provision, which I do not believe we are doing at the minute.