Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I said, I was involved in the introduction of the credits scheme in 1994, in conjunction with the former Minister for Social Welfare, Michael Woods. That scheme represented a landmark breakthrough in retirement provision. It is an issue we need to keep under review and monitor closely. Any change, however, is dependent on resources. In each of the past three budgets, in difficult economic circumstances, I provided an extra €200 million or so of additional funding for pensions against the background of the large and welcome increase in the number of people reaching pension age and the fact they are living much longer. It would require substantial additional resources to enhance the scheme further.

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