Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach admit that the idea of raising the pension age to 67 and then 68 is now dead in the water? The most recent general election showed that there is as much potential support for this measure as a race for a return of water charges. The Oireachtas committee was only recognising the reality that, politically, this is now a complete non-runner.

Increasing life expectancy raises important issues about funding pension arrangements. Will the Taoiseach now accept that there are alternative ways to doing this rather than just levying extra taxes on the workforce? Extra taxation, for example, could be levied on rental incomes, bank profits, profits of big business and taxes on the incomes of the very wealthy. In fact, will he not concede that the end of the road for the raise the pension age argument should mark the starting point for a real debate about the levying of real wealth taxes in our society?

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