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

Sometimes, I have an unfortunate turn of phrase that does not come out quite in the way I had expected. I am getting a reputation for it.

I meant that in a good way. I referred to the number of people who came to us and said it was great but suggested we do this and tweak that. We got good feedback in response to the consultation, not just from the big insurance companies. A 16 year old boy came to Galway who was interested in his pension. I was blown away by the people who came to the open days and who gave their input. That is what I meant by ripping it to bits. They gave us some great ideas. I have said consistently in this House that no one party or Department has a monopoly on wisdom. What we want to do is deliver a service for the people that gives them exactly what they need, which is a few extra bob when they get to 66 to be able to do stuff they want to do in their retirement.

In response to Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, I hope the design will be finished in the main at the beginning of next year. The complexities around the central processing authority, CPA, will probably take us a little bit longer. There will be a requirement for a brand-new IT system. We do not know who is going to manage the system. There are still several things that remain to be designed. The roadmap for pension reform gives a clear indication of when we are going to do what we are going to do. There will be a public information campaign long before we ever press a button on day one, so as to socialise it and to make sure that people are happy. We have done a public consultation with employees and people within the industry in the past year and it has really yielded some positive changes to the system. I hope to be able to bring those changes to Cabinet in the coming weeks.

See this speech in context