Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. It actually does not but I understand her timeline and her wish to try to come to a conclusion. I will express a concern. We had a debate here on the commission report some weeks ago. The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, took the debate for the Minister, who was away. The Minister of State seemed to give a presentation in that debate that suggested a certain direction with regard to the pension age, which I would be very concerned about, and that direction seemed to be set.

On this issue, I have many retired semi-State workers from ESB, Bord na Móna, etc., in my area. Because they have that small pension, they are excluded from many other payments that those completely reliant on the State pension will get. Now, the proposal is that their small extra pension will be taxed even further for PRSI and they do not seem to be getting any extra benefits. As the Minister can imagine, they are very concerned. They do not have the capacity to make any extra income. Has the Minister looked at the implications of the pensions commission's recommendation for this cohort of workers?

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