Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that the Minister does not have the solution but I would be somewhat reassured if I thought he was actively looking for one. What the question is saying is that we need to put a system in place that addresses this. The Minister calls it an anomaly. I call it a deliberate gap or a gap that has arisen because of the way we structure our State contributory pension scheme and the rules around the occupational pension schemes. In some cases, if the pension schemes absorbed it, it would put a strain on the solvency of the schemes when there are already difficulties - not because of actual solvency but because of the rules around that. I ask the Minister to get heads together in the Department to look at how private pension scheme rules and the State contributory pension can be matched up or married to address what is a heartbreaking erosion in quality of life for people who have worked for years. Let us remember that if we do not address this, people retiring in 2021 will have two years with no income - not just one year as in the case involving the man to which I referred.

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