Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I concur with Deputy Kelleher and I record my support for the amendment. On Committee Stage I indicated that not only was I happy to acknowledge but I fully understood the common sense of the proposition. I believe that a lifetime penalty for someone joining a private insurance arrangement after the age of 35 is punitive. The amendment seeks after a period of ten years to remove the penalty aspect and to take the calculation as of membership having been taken out by the age of 35. In my view a ten-year penalty is reasonable and fair. A ten-year penalty is more than adequate and appropriate, as the case may be. For someone who is 36, 37 or 38 years of age to have to bear a penalty up to their final days by comparison with somebody who joined at 33 or 34 years of age, does not ring true with me. I believe that timeframing it to a period certainly no greater than ten years, as Deputy Kelleher's amendment suggests, is both fair and reasonable.

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