Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I thank the Minister and his officials for their work on this important legislation. The Minister has onerous responsibilities. The Bill shows this clearly, as it ranges from social welfare to pensions and people's futures. These futures rely on decisions made by the Minister. I acknowledge the work of Senator Terry in raising a number of important issues regarding pensions. SSIAs are very popular because of their attractive return. If the return on PRSAs were as attractive, people would queue to sign up for them as they did for SSIAs. Hopefully, we can return to debate the pensions issue. It would be important to discuss means of ensuring that those who do not have protection get some and those who can make decisions at present to safeguard their future do so. With the help of the Minister and the Pensions Board we should examine how we might facilitate or encourage that to happen.