Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. It was very helpful. I take Deputy John Curran's point about many different categories of people who may have returned to education, etc., being affected. However, I am making a specific argument about how women, or people who left the workplace to make a home after 1994 compared to before 1994. This difference is important in my approach to the issue. I appreciate what the Minister said about a total contribution approach by 2020. If the Government adjusts it by 2020, these women will have been on the lower pension for five years. Had the Government listened to Deputies Richard Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy last night and taken on board some of their amendments to close the tax loopholes, we probably would be talking tax dollars and tax euros, instead of today's workers, paying the estimated retrospectivity cost of €290 million. The argument is not closed. There are many other ways of getting money into the State apart from going after the existing workforce. The issue of the home makers is important. I assume that if the Minister does the study and takes a holistic look at it through the committee, he will accept my amendment and not throw the baby out with the bathwater and say the amendment does not apply. I presume the question of retrospective payment is to be examined also.

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