Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I do not know about the Deputy's experiences but I frequently meet older people who would like the right to work longer. Happily, as a society, we are all living longer. In terms of the contribution and commitment of this State, everybody in work paying taxation and PRSI is contributing extensively to pensions. Some 280,000 people are on contributory State pensions which cost €3.45 billion in 2010 while 97,000 people are on the non-contributory pension which cost almost €1 billion. The contributions of the citizens of this State through taxes and PRSI they pay to pensions is considerable.

As I said, the age profile of this State is changing. Happily, people are living longer and many want to work longer. Many people stay in education longer than people used to and their working lives are somewhat shorter than they used to be.

What we need is a level of flexibility and flexi-security to deal with the changing demographics and the changing nature of work and work patterns in this country while ensuring that when people retire as they get older, they have a State pension at a level which allows them to live in comfort and dignity.

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