Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I would like to make a brief comment on an issue that is of relevance to this debate. I have just been dealing with a person who returned to Ireland from the UK some years ago. The man in question was entitled to take his UK pension, which is based on the number of years he spent working there, back to Ireland. When he returned five years ago, he did not look for anything. When he recently reached 70 years of age, he tried to get a top-up. When the inspector asked him how he was able to live on the amount of money he was being paid, he mentioned that he is sometimes given a bite to eat when he goes to his brother's farm to give him a hand. When the man in question was means tested, it was decided his brother gives him €5,200 a year, something about which he knows nothing. It was determined that the meals he sometimes receives are worth €50 a week, or €2,500 per annum.

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