Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have said to the Deputy that any gender-based discrimination is unacceptable in terms of any of our policies and approaches. This is a serious issue for women who took time out. Some women are suffering every year in their pensions because of this. We are all very familiar with the individual cases. What I am pointing out is that to resolve this anomaly, I am informed that an overall sum of €200 million to €300 million would be involved. I have stated that the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has had discussions with the Minister for Finance. Clearly that is a huge sum of money to be found in the current context. I have no doubt those discussions will continue to see precisely what remedies can be put in place.

We do not want to create further anomalies. I am informed that some of the changes could put other groups at risk. On contribution history, for example, if one disregarded the contributions and moved towards a more universal payment, one would risk that the contributions people had actually made were not resulting in them getting a commensurate pension. We do not want to create that situation either.

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