Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

Labour force participation by people aged 65 years or over is in the region of 7.2%, and it is expected to reduce to 6.2% by 2010. In the 1950s it was 37%. I do not have figures for those who claimed the €100 income disregard which became €200 in the recent budget but the number is small. There has not been an enormous response but the disregard is valuable. We have asked the Citizens Information Board to promote it more. As with the family income supplement, too few people are aware of it after years of the opposite being the case.

If one is on a non-contributory pension one can earn €200 per week in employment without affecting one's non-contributory pension. I wish to promote that widely so that more people take it up. Many people are probably afraid to earn some additional income for fear that it would interfere with their pensions. The limit is €200. We will promote it through the Citizens Information Board. We included people aged over 55 years in the national employment action plan which was appropriate because people over the age of 55 might need new training, education and opportunities to start second careers. Including them in the plan is sensible. Prior to that they were almost written off which is not the correct way to proceed. We recently reduced the time for which one is unemployed before being referred to the national employment action plan from six months to three months to keep the pressure on that plan.

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