Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Given that the Deputy has read the report, he will realise it is based on an examination of the next 30 years, asking what state the social contribution fund would be in if we did absolutely nothing and what options we could choose and what they would cost if we were to have it on a sustainable basis. I have said a number of times, and the Deputy is well aware, that when we move to any new model, there will be winners and losers. If one introduces a new total contributions model, there will have to be a grace period of a number of years to ensure people can pick from the new system or old system. If one does not have enough contributions to earn a pension at the full rate, one is well aware of it long before reaching retirement stage. The total contributions method is an absolutely fair way to reward people who have paid into a fund in that they can take money out of that fund on the basis of how much they paid in.

To answer the Deputy’s question on outliers, a decision has not been made. The outliers will relate to where the bands will start and finish and where the contributions for homemaker schemes will start and finish. None of those issues has been teased out. That is what the public consultation would be about.

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