Derek McDowell (Labour)

——who would be dedicated to dealing with drug problems in the city. I am thankful that it was dealt with in the spirit of levity intended by the journalist. In any event, it is a decent proposal. We all accept that if a person can do the job, and that is an essential proviso, he or she should be entitled to continue doing it. However, why should people be required to work until they are 65? The truth of the matter is that people will not do that. Significant numbers of people will choose to leave early and there is no doubt that the €300 million saving will come as a result of people leaving early with either no source of income or an actuarially reduced income in the intervening period. That is not a satisfactory state of affairs.

Let me refer in passing to PRSAs, which have not yet been mentioned in any detail. Most of us welcomed, at least in principle, the introduction of PRSAs a few years ago. However, the experience so far has not been encouraging. It is early days and one would not wish to make a final judgment on the issue. However, it is clear that the number of workers, particularly lower paid workers, availing of PRSAs at the moment is not at an acceptable level. It is possible that there are voluntary measures that could be taken to increase the participation rate. It might be possible to provide incentives either to workers or employers to ensure that people are made aware of the schemes and encouraged to join them. It is not my party's official policy, but it strikes me that we will soon have to consider introducing a measure of compulsion. The essential role of the State is to ensure that people have an adequate level of pension provision, but the State should also go beyond that and acknowledge that many people want more than that and provide every possible encouragement for the provision of occupational pensions. This is an issue with which the trade union movement is also grappling and we will have to consider whether there should not be some sort of compulsory private provision on top of the PRSI provision that already exists.