John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. I am not going to rehash everything that has been said about the approximately 36,000 older people directly affected but the changes that were introduced in 2012 were not brought in blindly in terms of the impact they would have, particularly on women. That information was available then, although there was no debate in here on it. The debate on the issue was guillotined in this Chamber and the changes were brought in with full knowledge of the negative consequences of same.

These people have suffered long enough. It is now time to end the inequality within the pension system. I welcome the review that is ongoing and I understand why it is a lengthy process in terms of compiling the data. In the next few weeks we will be dealing with the Social Welfare Bill. Before the recess a motion was passed which received support from all parties except for those in government. What action will be taken following that motion? The Social Welfare Bill will be debated in the House in the coming weeks. The Minister will have all of the data by then and will have an ideal opportunity to address the serious discrimination that exists in the pension system.

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