Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

As has been said, the summer economic statement will be launched this afternoon. In May, I asked the Taoiseach about the Pension Promise campaign. The Government previously promised to benchmark the State pension. The Taoiseach said he would look into it and get back to me. He did not.

In the roadmap for social inclusion, the Government made three commitments. These were to finalise the approach to benchmarking pensions; to develop any legislation necessary to implementing benchmarking; and to apply benchmarking to budget 2021. All three were due to be implemented by the end of 2020. As part of the voluntary national review on the sustainable development goals, SDGs, Ireland will present to the UN this month that the roadmap for social inclusion is "a national strategy for poverty reduction and improved social inclusion". The Government is presenting these commitments to the UN as a national strategy. They are three years late. Will the Taoiseach confirm whether the Government plans to honour the commitment to benchmark pensions and, if not, explain why?

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