Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

It is reasonable to say that time is needed to prepare a policy on pensions but we are approaching the second anniversary of the publication of the Green Paper on pensions. Since the beginning of this year, Deputy Enright and I have sought to know when the framework will be produced. During the early months of the year, the Minister repeatedly assured us it would be a matter of weeks but these assurances seemed to die a death. She is quoting from other reports and documents but what is she doing about the matter? She is responsible for pension policy and has had two years in which to draw up a White Paper on pensions. In the meantime, thousands of people are finding their pension provisions are completely inadequate and there is no initiative from the Government. The steps to which she referred are merely scratching the surface. I ask her to tell us the reason for the delay in bringing forward the long-promised pensions framework and the month in which we can expect it to be published.

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