Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I meant to take the opportunity on my first contribution to sympathise with the family of the late Mr. Noel Treacy, with whom I had the privilege of working in this House.

The Taoiseach is right. I have served in government in the past and this is a difficult decision. It is not an easy decision but the fact that an all-party committee looked at this and came up with solutions that are fiscally sound is something that must carry weight in this House.

Covid has changed the way we look at work and our attitudes to work location, flexibility and the nature of work itself. It should also change our attitude to and fixed policies on pensions, pension age and so on. A very coherent argument was made by the Chairman of the Oireachtas committee, Deputy Naughten, this morning and I ask the Government to approach this with a very open mind and not to focus on what was done in the past or on people's position in the past. Instead, it should say that in the post-Covid era, everything is up for review. Hopefully we can agree that we can have the recommendations of the all-party committee accepted.

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