Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is mór an trua é, ach níl mórán ama agam. Beidh Sinn Féin ag tabhairt ár dtacaíocht don rún seo. Sinn Féin will be supporting the motion. More than 36,000 older people are in receipt of a lower pension payment that they would have received had they retired before 2012. Of this figure, 62% are women. They are being punished for taking time out of the workforce to care for family members or loved ones. They now have to survive on a smaller pension, widening an already serious gender pension gap. The State pension is the single most important income support for older people and will be into the future. We need to ensure fairness and equality are at the heart of the pension system.

I am not going to go over all of the points made by my colleague, Deputy John Brady, concerning Fianna Fáil's record on this issue, but it is important to point out that it has had ample opportunities, not only with Sinn Féin's motion last December but also with the confidence and supply agreement on the formation of the Government and its own budgetary intervention for budget 2018, to intervene. Sinn Féin included it, not only in bringing forward the motion last December but also in its alternative budget for 2018. It is fair to say this is purely theatrics on the part of Fianna Fáil. While I do not very often agree with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, although there are some issues on which we most certainly agree, as has been the case during the years, I nevertheless have to say I concur with her in remarks on "Morning Ireland" today when she said Fianna Fáil clearly was not to be trusted and so say all of us.

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