Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the chance to speak on this legislation which, for the information of Members who may not have been in the House at the time, was announced in the previous budget by our late colleague, the former Minister, Mr. Brian Lenihan. It was introduced in response to the need to reform considerably Ireland's pension infrastructure at public and private levels. It certainly contains some difficult decisions and presents some difficult scenarios for people. However, the system of public service pension provision in Ireland has reached a point at which there are hundreds of tiers of pensioners, many of whom work in the same establishment. Earlier today I heard one Deputy criticise this legislation because it would introduce tiers of pensioners. Had she chosen to consider the membership of this House, it is evident that tiers of pensioners exist. Having taken a quick look around the Chamber, I note two Members have one pension arrangement, while others have different pension arrangements, even though they all do the same job.

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