Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I tabled amendment No. 35 to remove much of the discretion provided to the Minister in the Bill. Whatever Members may think about the rights and wrongs of using the CPI to calculate increases in pensions, if that is the chosen course it should be stated simply and unambiguously. There is no need for all the caveats and staged examinations set out in the Bill. My amendment simply seeks to strike out all the discretionary verbiage and replace it with the phrase: "Pensions payable under the Scheme shall be indexed in line with the Consumer Price Index." That is as clear as water.

The Minister will understand why people become anxious when they see a staged process which allows him to decide when increases in pension are to be paid, having regard to movements in the CPI. As Deputy Boyd Barrett indicated, the Bill as it stands provides the potential for considerable stalling and, ultimately, non-payment of increases. If this is the Minister's chosen methodology, I do not understand why he cannot state it simply and clearly rather than introducing an elongated process which allows him and his successor too many outs.

Like Deputy Sean Fleming, I have proposed to remove the enabling clause in section 47 from the Bill. I discussed the issue of retrospection with the Minister's colleague and he will be happy to hear that she held the line valiantly by categorically ruling out retrospection for those with large pensions - more is the pity. The inconsistency here is that whereas one cannot retrospectively meddle with the high rollers, the Minister wants an enabling provision that makes a material difference to current pension holders.

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