Ms Mary Murphy:

Yes, I believe there are many technical difficulties which people encounter which they are not expecting and are associated with the State pension, particularly the non-contributory one with the means-testing. We have used the word, "simplification" of social protection and that is something that we can certainly see with the non-contributory pension.

I have talked to a woman who is on a non-contributory pension where she may wish to do a bit of part-time work herself. She is a retired teacher and is just doing a bit of tutoring but she is very limited in how many hours she can do and she has to very much watch that. One gets these situations where there is a sense of meanness and of being overly regulated. I am aware that in the committee next door, means-testing in general in social protection is being discussed. That is certainly something we are plugged into and very concerned with, where people are having to change how they live and want to live their lives just so that they are eligible for an income from the State.