Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will respond to Deputy Rabbitte's point. I have to make a distinction between gifts and services. The EU is not involved in the bounty because it is a gift whereas services are totally covered by EU law. Approximately 40,000 Irish pensioners are getting Irish pensions abroad. We have been trying to make those people eligible to get their services. That is the work we are endeavouring to do, but the difficulty with EU law is that we cannot open it beyond that. Under EU law, one cannot discriminate on the basis of nationality. We are trying to facilitate the 40,000 Irish people living abroad who receive the Irish pension.

See this speech in context