Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Táim chun mo chuid ama a roinnt leis an Teachta Ó Cuív, le cead an Leas-Chathaoirligh. I welcome this debate. I welcome those who are in the Gallery, particularly the president of SIPTU, Pádraig Peyton, and Ethel Buckley. I especially welcome Mr. Peyton as he comes towards the end of his term of office. He is the one individual who has placed this issue front and centre on the political agenda. He is a Mayo man who is exiled in Sligo. He will finish his term of office at the end of this month.

I have had to shorten my contribution so I will focus on just a few matters. I commend the Chairman and the committee on this report. The Minister of State has referred to sustainability, but there are other ways to attack and manage the sustainability issue rather than completely focusing on changing the age. As the Minister of State has said, the broader tax system also includes the tax reliefs being offered on private pensions, which are worth some €2.5 billion per annum. A rebalancing of those reliefs could help when examining the broader tax system.

It was very clear during the general election campaign that the notion of raising the age was unpalatable not just to politicians but to the public generally. People who have worked incredibly hard and contributed greatly to the life of the State had an expectation of a pension at the age of 65 for many, now 66. In that context, the broader tax system and broader funding beyond the Department of Social Protection budget needs to be looked at. There are other areas involved in this.

I have noticed that while the age issue gets a lot of coverage, the issue of mandatory retirement is the one that gets most people angry and aggrieved. We need to change our approach to that and give people an option. There are many who wish to continue working and they should be allowed to do that. Yes, our age profile is changing and some people want to continue to work, but there are others who do not. We need to be proactive in reviewing that.

I particularly welcome the focus the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands put on the marriage bar. I believe this went on our entry to the European Union, which was in the year I was born. It is extraordinary it was allowed to continue. Its legacy is that 57,000 women, our mothers and grandmothers, were prevented from earning a wage and fulfilling their career potential. Given it is such a small number of people, 57,000, who are not qualifying for a full State pension not because of anything they themselves did, that issue needs to be actively looked at and dealt with once and for all.

There is still a large cohort of people who were impacted negatively by the 2012 changes with regard to home care. The home care package has not dealt with all of them. They are very aggrieved. Many of them only find out they had been penalised when they come to retirement age.

That brings me to another issue, the issue of knowledge about pensions. There are many people - in fact, most of us - who do not engage with this issue until they are coming close to pension age. The State needs to be a lot more proactive in informing people of their pension benefits. We can send out any range of taxation documentation annually. People should get an annual pension statement so they will know early on what their pension will be when they come to retirement so that they can engage with it at that stage.

I welcome the focus the committee put on the issue of family carers and other carers. In the context of what family carers save the health budget and, more importantly, the non-financial contribution they make, it is only the decent thing to do to give them pension rights. It is actually an investment in our health system as well as being the decent thing to do. That needs to be looked at as well.

I have mentioned the whole area of information for those who are paying contributions. A great many people do not know what they are entitled to in terms of PRSI benefits. We need to shine a far brighter light on that system and to make it far more accessible and transparent so that people know what they are getting for paying in. PRSI is quite a substantial portion of peoples' income and people must be given much clearer access.

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