Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

As I said in my initial reply, it is intended to have the framework by the end of this year. Other countries, including the UK, gave a three or four-year lead-in period for the implementation of their strategy. Obviously that needs to be considered now because of the various elements involved. It will not be easy to come up with a framework because there are very divergent views in that regard. There is no consensus, particularly between the employers and the employees, as to how it should be addressed. It is accepted that there is a need to deal with the issue because of the demographic change. We are lucky in having the luxury of not being faced with this issue today because we have six workers for every person on a pension. In some years' time we will have only two workers for every person on a pension. The time is right for us to establish this framework. I cannot say what the outcome of the strategy or the implementation period will be because we have had so many submissions. However, it is the intention to bring the framework to Government by the end of this year.

See this speech in context