Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This issue constitutes financial discrimination, mostly against women who took time out of their working lives to rear their children and care for their families and who, prior to 1973, were forced out of the workforce by the marriage ban, which was correctly described by the Minister for Finance during the week as "bonkers". The inequality in contributory pension payments that arises from this anomaly is, in effect, an institutionalised pension levy on homemakers and caregivers. Such a levy needs to be corrected as a matter of urgency. The changes introduced by the former Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, in 2012, during the term of the previous Government, caused a pension reduction by introducing a new requirement for a higher number of PRSI contributions, a new averaging rule and new bands relating to the number of contributions paid divided by the notional number of years worked, including years taken up by rearing a family and, perhaps, holding down a part-time job as a student. In 2012, the rules were changed, which has resulted in a reduction of €1,500 per year in the pension. Some 36,000 women have been affected by this. Two thirds of those affected are women. Those who retired before 2012 were not affected by the changes. Women rearing their children prior to 1994 did not have their absent years taken into account.

The pension rules are complicated but close examination reveals discrimination inherent in the system, which was driven by austerity in an unfair manner. The legacy issues must be addressed. The anomaly ignores the social and historical context of how women ran their lives and how they worked as homemakers. The State contributory pension scheme is heavily gendered, in favour of men, who historically were paid more than their female counterparts. The anomaly needs to be addressed immediately. A pension change that is introduced should not have any losers, no matter how small the numbers. In this case, however, it is 36,000.

Austerity has many legacy issues, including the housing shortage, homelessness, health care waiting lists and, now, pension levies. The Minister for Finance stated that he will move to a pension system which takes account of the entirety of people's contributions. This inequality needs to be corrected over as short a period as possible if we are to have any credibility as a republic of equal opportunity.

See this speech in context