Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

We should bring this discussion to a close because we are going around in circles. The Minister's failure to recognise the additional costs that a single pensioner has over and above a pensioner living with somebody else has meant that in recent years single pensioners have lost out relative to pensioners living as couples or in larger family situations. Single pensioners have lost out relative to couple pensioners. I do not understand the Minister's justification for that. He started by accepting that single pensioners have higher living costs than pensioners living in couples and yet he did not recognise it in the social welfare code. I do not know why he did not do so.

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