Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

Much of what Senator O'Toole said is correct but we should probably have a wider debate on this issue. In Germany, people who lose their jobs keep a substantial portion of their income which decreases over time rather than going from one's full income to social welfare which represents an immediate massive and dramatic drop in income. Many people who have lost their jobs will not be able to draw down their entitlements from their defined benefit or defined contribution pension with the company for which they used to work, assuming the pension fund survived a company collapse. There is merit in having a longer discussion, taking into account people other than those mentioned in this section of the Bill.