Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputies Healy, Donnelly and Ryan.

The Social Democrats are very happy to support the motion on pension provision, particularly with regard to the State pension. It is true to say pensions need urgent attention, and there needs to be very clear policy in the area and a roadmap set out for the future. There is much uncertainty about the pensions situation at present, whether with regard to the changes to the State pension we have seen in recent years or private pension provision. We need direction and leadership from the Government in this regard. If we take the fact approximately €3 billion is spent every year on providing tax relief to people who put away money for their pensions, we know 80% of it goes to people earning at the top rate of tax. To some extent we must bear in mind the people subsidising this are people on low incomes who, perhaps, have no pension provision themselves. This creates an unfair situation whereby we allow people to put away very big pension pots which benefit from tax relief and at the same time, for the same amount of money, we pay the State pension.

The State pension must become the mainstay of pension policy and must be linked to the consumer price index in terms of increases, but should reflect a percentage of the average income. We need to move to having certainty on the level of State pension. It is also important there is confidence in the State pension and that the rules will not change, so that people who pay into it over their lifetime will not be hit with a rule change which negatively impacts on them. This happened when the number of contributions required for a full State pension was increased. This impacted in particular on women who had taken time out of the workforce. There should not be midstream changing of the rules. There should be recognition for time out of the workforce for child minding or other care responsibilities. This should be reflected in the requirements for the number of contributions.

Another point is with regard to people who are no longer entitled to the State pension or transition pension at 65, and who are told they must wait until 66 even though they are required to retire at 65. We need to change the law in terms of contracts so people can stay beyond 65. We also need to stop the situation, which is so insulting to people who perhaps have worked for 40 years, whereby they must, at 65 years of age, go on jobseeker's payment. It is entirely unacceptable and should not have been allowed.

Another issue is the extension of the pension age. We need a transition pension system until the retirement age catches up with the pension age. A range of issues need urgent political attention and have not received any attention. We had the green paper a number of years ago, but very little progress has been made on it. I welcome the motion in so far as it goes, and the Social Democrats are happy to support it, but much more needs to be done.

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