Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Under EU law, we cannot distinguish between people of different nationalities. I do not know what proportion of the 500 million people who live in the member states of the entire European Union are over the age of 66. That is what we have to protect. One cannot normally discriminate under EU law, particularly EU welfare law. If a member state gives something to its own citizens, it has to give it to the citizens of each of the 25 member states. I do not think anybody is arguing for that.

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