Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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58. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to re-examine the situation where women who were in the workforce and left in earlier years for family duties are not in a position to receive the full State contributory pension when they reach retirement age; and her further plans to address this situation. [46645/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the progress that has been made in addressing the issue where women are deprived of a contributory pension having retired from the workplace while raising their families or owing to the marriage ban; if their cases can be re-examined with a view to crediting them with sufficient contributions to enable them to qualify for a State or retirement pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46341/17]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I heard the Minister speak about this issue already with my colleague, Deputy Willie O'Dea, but I ask her to outline her plans to re-examine how people, women in particular, are affected by the anomaly within the State pensions system.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 84 together, Deputy Niamh Smyth's and Deputy Bernard J. Durkan's questions, although he is not here.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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If I go off script just for one second, I will be murdered.

We are all aware - I know that it looks like I am blue in the face - but perhaps 99% of the people of the country have still not heard us say we are moving to a new model, to which I hope we will move in 2020. We will undertake a public consultation process, from the end of this month or the beginning of December, when everybody's view and input will be vital because, as Deputy Niamh Smyth's colleague will be aware, there will be winners and losers in the new model. Every Member of the House will have to help sell the new model, as otherwise it will not work. That is where we are going.

I often wonder why - I can say this to Deputy Niamh Smyth because she knows that I am not being smart - this issue only seems to affect women, but they are the only ones about whom we seem to have been concerned for the past couple of weeks. I am referring to women who stayed at home to mind their children. I know that they did, but 38% of those affected are poor fellows who either stayed at home to mind their children or went to college or to England to work and they are equally as affected by the anomaly.

What my officials and I needed to do in the past couple of weeks was to look at the 36,000 people who were affected by the anomaly and where they were affected, if the Deputy knows what I mean. Did some of the women in question work for only one year before they went home? Did some of the gentlemen go to England in the 1970s or the 1980s? I needed to know exactly what the circumstances were in order that whatever decision was made to rectify the anomaly would not fix 10,000 cases and leave 26,000 unfixed. If we can do something today, it has to be to fix the cases of all those concerned and, while fixing them, not to create another problem for those currently receiving 85% of a pension payment for reasons other than band changes. If we were to introduce a disregard, for argument's sake, we would have to have a valid argument as to why the Minister could introduce a disregard for one group and not another.

When we make the full report available, it will be clear whether we can do anything in the short term, what it is and how much it will cos. If we cannot, perhaps we might look at the budgetary process as we move forward towards total contributions to see whether we could do something. I can assure Deputy Niamh Smyth - she has had women coming to her constituency clinics no more than I have have for the past few years - that we will fix this. I would like to think we would fix it sooner rather than later, but I am adamant that we will fix it.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister's response. I note how she states the issue also affects men. Of course, the irony is that, no more than in the case of the Minister, 100% of the complaints I have received in my clinic have been from women and we can all appreciate their frustration. They reach that point in their life where they think they will receive the full State pension and then realise, essentially because they had worked for a couple of years and then took care of and reared their children at home and did a valuable job within the home, they will not be so entitled. That is devastating both for them and, I add, their husbands, some of whom come to a clinic to support them. I appreciate what the Minister is saying, but It is important that in any review or assessment there not be another cohort who will slip through the net or who will be penalised in the way the women in question have been.

I have taken on board, too, the Minister's comments on a public consultation process. That is important and will give some comfort to the women who have been affected by this anomaly. I am delighted to hear - women in the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan will certainly be delighted to hear this - that the issue is being addressed. As my colleague reiterated, it would be good to see it being addressed before the next budget and as soon as the Minister can possibly do so. That would be appreciated.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy makes an interesting point. I never copped it before. I have never had a man come into the office at home to complain about this anomaly.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I have.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Maybe that is why we are talking about it. I was not being smart when I was talked about it being a women's issue. We are proud people. I am not there yet, but my mother is. Other people's mothers were in the situation where they got a surprise, as the Deputy said; when they had reached the end of their working life, they found that they would receive less than they had expected in their pension. That is why we need to fix it. It is as simple as that. It is not any less or more of an issue for the men who went to work, perhaps, in England, in the 1980s or any other period. People do not leave Ireland to travel the world unless they are young and ambitious. Most of the time when people leave the country, they do it because they have to. This anomaly that affects men and women needs to be addressed. I hope to be able to bring the report to the House in the next week or so.