Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Sherlock made reference to a good day's work. More than a good day's work was put into this. The Cathaoirleach of the committee cannot be here today but Deputy Ó Laoghaire and I are so, on behalf of the committee, I am thankful for all of the support at the pre-legislative scrutiny stage. We might have liked to see more of the recommendations being taken on board in the final shape of the Bill, but we found the Minister and the Department very willing to come to us at all times.

This legislation is substantial. The members of the committee took a good chunk of time to deepen our understanding of the issue and the implications of the legislation. On Committee Stage, we were joking that it is unlikely that those who will benefit from this legislation will still have the option of voting for any of us when they reach pension age. It is legislation that will benefit people 20, 30 or 40 years from now. However, it is a good day's work in the political sphere even though it took far longer than that for the Bill to get here. I congratulate the Minister and her officials on all of the work that has gone into this.

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