Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We dealt with this on Committee Stage, but the Minister mentioned that the Pensions Ombudsman had indicated to him that it was unfair that there were no transitional arrangements in place, and the Minister said it was his intention to put in place the more stringent criteria in three years' time. There is no guarantee that the Minister will be sitting in that chair in three years' time. My point is that the legislation does not provide for that. Unless I have missed it, the legislation does not state that this is a transitional arrangement; the Minister might point to such a statement if I have missed it. In three years' time, if a finance Minister does what the Minister has indicated is the intention, there will be no transitional arrangement and we will be back at square one. Can the Minister reassure me that that is not the case?

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