Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Almost half the women in our workforce of 2 million do not have personal pensions. Only 43% of the private sector have personal pensions and this must be rectified. Will a one-for-one pension scheme, espoused by the Members opposite during the general election campaign, be introduced for those on low incomes? Will this result from the Green Paper or must we wait for it until after the tax cut commitments are delivered? Senator McFadden referred to the fact that one in five elderly people is at risk of poverty and that EU data show that, among member states, Ireland has the second highest rate of risk of poverty for those aged 65 or over. That is a sad indictment. The number of these people will increase by 60% over the next 14 years and we must have a scheme to cope with this.

According to some independent commentators, PRSI contributions may not be sufficient to pay for social welfare benefits in three years' time. The Minister may disagree with this but how does he expect to deliver on the promise to increase the State pension and reduce the rate of employee PRSI to 2%?

We need action on pensions. It is almost 12 months since the Pensions Board proposed a mandatory system. The Green Paper has been published. At the launch the Tánaiste stated that we face "a difficult challenge in ensuring the financial and economic sustainability of our pension system as the task of financing increased spending on pensions falls to a diminishing share of the population". That presents a challenge and it behoves us to ensure people do not live in poverty and that our elderly and those who have contributed to society are treated well at their most vulnerable time. The proposed amendment recognises this and I ask the House to support it.