Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Furthermore, we have the example of the Government executing a U-turn on proposed cuts in the pay of senior civil servants last December. As a result, the civil servants in question managed to avoid income levies. One then wonders why people are cynical.

The proposal to means test pensions is stupid and unjust and should go the way of many reports, namely, into the dustbin. As in many other cases, it aims at soft targets while avoiding the privileged. Given that the contributory State pension is already subject to PAYE and levies, the proposed measure would yield little while adding a new layer of bureaucracy. Depending on the value of a person's pension, the proposal would render some people eligible for a medical card, causing the Government another problem. It would also cause great hardship to people who lose their occupational pensions due to poor investment returns. The grossest injustice would be to deprive home-making wives of the only independent income they have enjoyed. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.