Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on these matters related to pensions and the public services card. As I understand it, there are three pensions Bills to be brought before us in this Chamber in the current term. They come from Deputies Richard Boyd Barrett, Willie Penrose and Johnny Brady. I do not deny any of the three Deputies the right to bring whatever they wish before us in the Chamber as they are elected and have that right but I wonder if the three Bills could be streamlined into one Bill. There is no doubt but that the pension system needs to be improved in many areas. We have social welfare inequalities and unfairness in many areas. It is ridiculous that currently people must retire from many jobs at 65 years of age. After working for 40 or 45 years, it is ridiculous to think they cannot get the contributory pension until they reach 66 years of age so they go on jobseeker's benefit.

We were all at the ploughing championships and it was great to be able to meet the farming community and people who service the business. It is a wonderful experience every year to meet people from every part of the country, especially those who go religiously from very rural areas. Fewer than 50% of these farmers have any preparations made for a pension. It is only when these men and women reach 65 or 66 years of age that they give any thought to the pension and at that stage, with many of them, their hips, backs and hands are gone and there are fingers missing. They will have given endless hours to work; more than many people, except maybe those in private business. They do not have working hours and they go from darkness in the morning until the dark of night. They work on Sundays and every day of the week. It is amazing to think that fewer than 50% have any provision for a pension. I was glad to hear the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, suggesting a number of weeks ago some new idea he has for a pension. Farmers certainly need to be looked after as they dedicate their whole life to their farms and their operations. They must do it.

As mentioned by Deputy Michael Collins, there are many women who, if they have reached pension age since 2012, would not qualify for a full pension. Maybe some of them are not getting any pension. I have an example of two sisters who went into the workforce back in the 1970s. One of the girls worked in the black economy and there were no stamps paid for her while the other girl had her stamps paid. Both of them reared their families and did not work for a long number of years up until the late 1980s. They went back to work again and the girl who had the stamps paid will not qualify for a full pension but the girl who was in the black economy and was paid cash will. That needs to rectified, particularly the way contributions are averaged. It is not fair and when something is not fair, it is not right. Many of these women are coming to elected representatives to see what we can do for them. Our group raised this matter in the Dáil a number of months ago but we were told the money was not there to rectify it as it would cost €300 million or €400 million. These people are being wronged and this must be looked at again. This will become an election matter. The affected people came up here from all over Kerry to highlight the problem. Will the Minister look at this as the averaging system is wrong and unfair?

Many pension schemes have employers paying in for their employees but they will not benefit the employees. These pensions need to be clarified. Employees and employers do not know enough about these pension schemes and they are not benefitting the employees. Many people are worried about the public services card because they want to know who will have access to the card. If they do not want to give it to certain people, it is a right that should be upheld. The matter will not go away and it needs to be dealt with in a fairer manner.

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