Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I certainly do want to see the gender pension gap reduce and it is reducing. In 2014 the gap was 32%, which is a fall of 5% on two years previously, and the gap is lower than it is in the EU, which is 39%; in the Netherlands it is 40% and in Germany it is 48%. We anticipate that the gap will fall. The best way to ensure the gender pension gap continues to fall is to increase the number of people contributing to an occupational pension or to a State pension. I have proposals to do exactly that. The solution is not the solution proposed by Deputy Brady, which is just to lob another bill on the general taxpayer, to say to those who pay for everything and who pay all the taxes that they must pay some more. That is not the solution. The way contributory and occupational pensions work is that people pay into them and because of that they get a pension return. We need more people starting earlier, paying into their pensions and paying in enough to make sure they get a decent pension. That is how we get good outcomes for people. Suggesting that somehow we can just indefinitely add to the taxpayers' bill every time there is a problem is not good policy and it is not sustainable.

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