Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Tóibín.

If people pay into pensions in good faith, they have a legitimate expectation as to when they will receive their State pensions. No one should be forced against his or her wishes to retire at the age of 65 or, alternatively, forced to work on until the age of 68 in order to receive a pension to which he or she has made the contributions. Such people are legitimately entitled to their pensions, having completed those contributions. There are, however, also people who want to work until the age of 68 and to pay additional pension contributions, and they should be facilitated in doing that. One cohort of people who traditionally fell into that position were the women who left employment to rear their families or to care for a sick person. They ended up with reduced contributions.

In fairness to the Minister's predecessor, Senator Regina Doherty, she was the first Minister in nine Ministers with whom I took up this specific issue who actually addressed it. I worked very closely with Senator Doherty when she was Minister in addressing this anomaly, something her predecessors had very neatly brushed under the carpet. I can understand Deputy Sherlock being sensitive earlier about the issue of pensions because a former Minister of his party, Joan Burton, when she was in the Department actually magnified the problem with the changes she made at the time and compounded an already difficult situation for those women.

I wish to take up a couple of issues with the Minister. The first is the pension entitlements of community employment scheme supervisors. This issue has been ongoing for a considerable period, and we have all received representations on foot of a Labour Court ruling on it back in 2009, 11 years ago. I know the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, has been engaging with the supervisors and their representatives on this, but it is a long-running and contentious issue and I hope the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, will provide us with an update on progress on the matter. I know from our discussions in Cabinet that this is not an easy issue to resolve but it is one that we all are determined to see resolved once and for all.

The other issue I wish to take up with the Minister - it is a perennial one that I have raised previously in the House - concerns people who have already reached pension age but have not made enough contributions to acquire a State pension. As a result, they have continued working beyond their 66th birthday. It is Government policy to encourage people to work later in life, but this cohort has been penalised as a result of that. These people, most of whom are self-employed, have been denied access to the pandemic unemployment payment. They are being told they are being denied access to the payment because they are eligible for a State pension, but they are not eligible for a State pension. They have commitments in respect of mortgages and repayments they are making and rent they are paying for their businesses, yet they are being denied access to financial support. It is not good enough to tell them they can go to the community welfare officer and access supplementary welfare allowance because the Minister and I know they will not do that. We are talking about a small cohort, and there is provision under social welfare legislation that one cannot receive two social welfare payments. Surely that should be invoked to allow this small group of people who are not entitled to a State contributory pension, who are over the age of 66 and who have been forced out of employment due to Covid-19 to access the pandemic unemployment payment.

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