Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have put forward amendment No. 15, which is very similar to amendment No. 12 in the name of Deputy John Brady. On Committee Stage we agreed we would table a similar amendment to ensure the Minister comes back to us with that report - or a paper, as she put it - on the 2012 changes and what they mean for these women, in the main, and men.

We have gone through a long process and do not wish to repeat ourselves. However, I reiterate that what was done to this cohort of pensioners was one of the most brutal attacks on older women and men in this country. The then Minister, Deputy Burton, was standing where the Minister of State is now, defending the indefensible while slashing lone parents' payments, in particular the access of children of eight, nine and ten years to such payments, as well as slashing disability payments and pensions. The list goes on. There is no protection, given this was done in the pure knowledge of the Department. In March 2013, the journalist Conor Ryan wrote that the Department of Social Protection was aware that thousands would lose out but implemented the policy regardless. The Department, with Deputy Burton as Minister, offered some measure of restitution by introducing a homemaker's credit scheme but responsibility for this was passed to the Department of Finance, which thus far has insisted the money is not there for a scheme.

The Minister for Finance has called what has happened "bonkers", a word which has been used quite regularly. I cannot understand how the Minister was so surprised given that he came into the Dáil and voted for this change to the pensions in 2012 and voted for all the other cuts in the 2012 budget. If this is not resolved, and if this paper does not come back with a clear trajectory as to how it is going to be resolved within a clear timeframe, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will suffer. Fianna Fáil had a chance to make a difference to this budget. It could have insisted this was changed but it simply came back later on with a Private Members' Bill and is only now making an issue of it. It will be held accountable by the elderly people of this country and its members are familiar with the wrath of those elderly people who do not take it lying down when they are literally walked over.

I urge the Minister of State to accept this amendment and that in the name of Deputy Brady - the Deputy will speak on it himself - and to revert to us as quickly as possible with a transparent strategy.

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