Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

When I indicated at the beginning of the year that we hoped to publish within weeks, that was the situation which then obtained. However, it would be foolish of us to issue a long-term framework or strategy while ignoring the changes that have taken place in the economy since the publication of the Green Paper. The economic basis for any framework has changed completely in the past two years.

As I noted in my earlier reply, we addressed some of the immediate issues of significance. Equally, any changes recommended in the framework will be of a long-term nature. They will not impact on those who are about to reach retirement age. It is not correct to suggest that people who have now lost their pension rights will be affected by these recommendations. It is important that we set out a long-term framework.

I do not want to mislead the House by stating that the framework will issue in the next few weeks but it remains a priority for us during this term.

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