Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I intend to focus on the issue of gender and women in regard to the motion. I commend Deputies John Brady and Denise Mitchell for bringing it forward. As a woman, the issue of the shocking pension gap in the State really stands out. It is also a critical issue for many women in my constituency. Many Members have brought up the point about people calling into their offices. Many of these women feel they are being discriminated against for having had to care for either their children or relatives. The reality is that women generally take up this role and I agree with them 100% in regard to their feelings of being discriminated against. On a very basic level, one has to look at the cost of child care in the State and how it impacts on women's capacity to remain in the workforce. We live in a society where the cost of child care can be the cost of a second mortgage. For parents with several children, the cost is completely out of reach. Understandably, a parent, generally the woman, leaves her job to become the primary caregiver. Often, women do not leave work fully but become part-time. Many of those women do not realise the impact this will have on them later in respect of their pensions. It is only when they come to pensionable age they realise that because they reduced their hours or took parental leave, their pension contributions will not be equivalent to those of a man. The reality is that these women will have reduced pensions on retirement. The gender pension gap in the State is 37%, which is fifth highest in the whole of the EU. Only 18% of those receiving the full contributory pension here are women, which is appalling. It shows how many women do not qualify and that, in turn, shows that there is something very wrong with our system.

The motion is an effort to correct the reforms in 2012 which hit women very unfairly. It is bad enough that the gender pay gap is around 14% but to think that the pension pay gap is knocking on the door of 40% is unbelievable. Women who have worked their whole lives and, indeed, those who are still working deserve fair and appropriate provision for later in life. Women contribute an enormous amount to the workforce and wider society and it is pitiful that we have come to a stage where we feel we have to fight for basic equality on pension rights, often after a lifetime of commitment to employment. In many cases where women give up their jobs to raise children for a period or to look after an elderly parent or relative, they are saving the State money. Nevertheless, they are met with the assertion that they do not have the full contributions for a pension, which is scandalous. I urge Deputies to support the motion.

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