Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I would agree with that because there is a cohort of people who are probably earning marginally too much and it is then a deterrent. That lady will have to stop work in order for her husband to get the non-contributory pension. On the one hand we are trying to encourage people to continue working on, if that is what they want to do, and yet, at the same time, we are militating against people who are four years out from retirement and are telling them that if their older partner wishes to access a pension, that that person needs to stop working. There is certainly an anomaly in what we are trying to do there and what we are already doing, is there not?