Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

Like Deputy Penrose, I would hope we never again find ourselves in a position where we must introduce a scheme such as this, even though, under the agreement with those who are paying for the ongoing funding of the country, we have agreed we must reduce further. The manner in which this scheme was introduced did no one any favours.

There are approximately 370 remaining grace period retirements still to be paid. Whereas I take on board what Deputy Penrose said about someone who retired as a result of ill health, if an application were made to the HSE, there would be part-payment forthcoming. No one should be left destitute as a result of retiring under a scheme which the Government introduced.

There were staff who, up until two weeks before the deadline, had not notified the Department of Health or anyone else that they were about to retire. In some instances, it was not the case that staff had sent in notice well in advance.

Despite the fact a person may have worked in one institution all of his or her working life, there are issues such as overtime and maternity leave that must be calculated. The last thing we want is that someone does not get the full pension to which he or she would be entitled.

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