Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If you say I did, you misinterpreted what I said.

We also had a lecture from the so-called left here, stating Fine Gael will not do this in government and Fianna Fáil will not do that in government.

The irony is that those to whom I refer do not want to be in government at all. They want to be shouting from the sidelines permanently. Toy town demagogues, that is what we are dealing with here. How can people lecture any of the major parties in this House about what they will and will not do in government when those individuals have absolutely no intention whatsoever of serving in government themselves?

I am very disappointed with the Government's response. It is talking about the whole matter being examined, analysed, reported on, trashed out and legislated for again. As I said previously, however, Age Action has done all of this work already. It is pure prevarication on the Government's part and nothing else. I listened to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, saying that we need to give the Government time to go through all of this consideration. Time is one thing that the elderly do not have. I know people who were adversely affected by the changes introduced in 2012 and who have died in the interim. The more time we provide in respect of the changes the Government is proposing, the less people will benefit from them. The benefits will end up being paid to their estates. What I am seeking is a definite timetable in respect of those changes promised by the Minister in the amendment she tabled.

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