Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

This is a blessing and bonus. It is important that people are allowed to work longer, if they so wish. The Government will examine providing for those who wish to postpone drawing down their State pension arrangements to enable them to receive an actuarially increased benefit. This is the case with several pension benefits structures in Ireland and Europe.

Ireland's demographics, like those in other European countries, are changing. For the past 20 years, there have been ongoing discussions in Leinster House about how to evolve and develop pension arrangements that will be affordable for the State and can be contributed to by people during their working lives.

Deputy Luke Flanagan is correct that due to the financial crash, more people are out of work. It is the Government's job to get people back to work, put the country on a sound economic footing and regain economic sovereignty and independence. I regret the latter is under the temporary control of the IMF. I proposed measures on the floor of the House which would have averted much of the crash. I also identified the several billion euro spent by the former Government every year in tax breaks for those with enormous pension funds. Members will recall the case of Mr. Fingleton who ended his working life with a pension fund of €20 million, most of which had been tax-breaked by the State. Even those who dream of winning the national lottery would not dream of the figures in some of these pension funds.

This is a complex reform which involves extending the notion of people's working lives and right to work, which many people want. Deputy Joe Higgins will know from our constituency that the number of people who have been on schemes aimed at older people, such as job initiative, have wanted to stay on for an extra year. My colleague, the Minister without Portfolio, Deputy Brendan Howlin, will introduce measures to change entitlements to allow people to stay on working in the public service.

Deputy Catherine Murphy raised the matter of emigration. People will live abroad to gain experience, one that was popular during the Celtic tiger. Many Members, including me, have lived abroad. Even Deputy Luke Flanagan worked abroad at various times in his career.

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