Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When I was elected to this House 20 months ago, this was one of the first issues to come across the desk in my office in Newbridge, County Kildare. I was shocked and appalled to learn that women of pensionable age could be treated like this. To be perfectly honest, I did not believe it at first. Having been able to raise it in this House on a number of occasions since, I have been further appalled to learn that the Government is doing absolutely nothing to try to provide for redress for the women on whom this has had such an adverse impact.

I was delighted when my colleague, Deputy Willie O'Dea, signalled to our parliamentary party, following much discussion among members, that this was something we wanted to bring forward and saw as a priority. I commend the work he has done on the issue.

The changes which have happened in recent years, in particular since 2012, have aggravated an already serious inequality between the retirement incomes of women and men. Financial hardship in retirement has become a real problem for women because of the way the current system is structured. It is deeply unfair to penalise women who took time out of the workplace to care for their children or aged relatives. The current system has to be reviewed.

We have a problem with gender pension issues in general. The gender provision gap in pensions in Ireland is unacceptably high, at 37%. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, indicates that women are 80% more likely to be impoverished at the age of 65 years than men. Women aged 75 to 79 years are three times more likely to be impoverished. These are sobering statistics which we have to take into account when debating this issue.

The motion specifically addresses the inequity which has been created by the current averaging system which disadvantaged women, in particular. Some may think a reduction of €30 a week is not that much, but for many, the gap can be €50 or €60. For a pensioner, €120 a month is a very significant amount of money. It equates to 31 bales of briquettes, 120 l of milk or 96 loaves of bread. I am sure it would pay for car tax and insurance and go some small way towards putting petrol in a car. It is a considerable amount of money to shortchange women on a monthly basis.

Some 23,000 female workers are being paid lower rates because they left their jobs before 1994 to care for their children. The date of their departure means that they are missing out on at least €1,500 a year. They are also being denied the increase of €5 announced last Tuesday. Having spoken to many women in that situation, I know that they feel insulted that when there is an increase in pension payments, they do not receive the full amount. It is something the Government has to take on board.

As a result of the changes made, the number of paid contributions needed to qualify for a State pension increased from 260 to 520. That makes it much more difficult for those without a full-time long-term working history to qualify for the maximum weekly payment. It penalises women who took career breaks to have children and care for elderly relatives.

According to figures from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, approximately 40,000 new applicants since 2012 have received smaller pensions than they would have if they had retired before 2012. This has had a significant impact, not just on them but also their families.

The averaging-out method has caused serious inequalities. It has punished pensioners financially. The band changes need to be removed and the changes backdated. My party is very happy to accept this on an incremental basis. We understand and appreciate that changes cannot be introduced overnight, but we need a roadmap whereby these inequities can be dealt with in a serious way. The 40,000 affected need to be dealt with in an appropriate way and the inequities addressed.

Lack of access to pensions is a critical issue for women. Again, it affects their families, children and siblings. Rather than address these inequalities, the Government has allowed them to deepen. Since 2012, the figures have increased ninefold.

I commend the National Women's Council of Ireland, Age Action which was mentioned by Deputy Willie O'Dea, and the ICA, all of which have done much for a very long time to highlight the inequities. Their campaign is ongoing. I accept that it is a complex issue, but there is a clear solution. The message we all heard last Tuesday was that in budget 2018 money was being put back in people's pockets. Again, I emphasise that the increase of €5 per week in the old age pension will be less for the 40,000 people affected. It is imperative that the Government introduce a fair and equitable pensions system to ensure women and men can have a decent standard of living in their older years. That is what the motion is about. In supporting my colleague, Deputy Willie O'Dea, and my parliamentary party members, this is one of the best motions we have brought before the House. We do not want to defend one of the worst inequities in the system.

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