Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

There is a raison d'être for everything the Minister proposes which is why we question these things. I would be interested to know the context for this matter. When the decision was taken, was it anticipated that this would have a particular effect on women who had left the workplace? Would it have been seen as somewhat discriminatory towards those who had voluntarily left the workplace to rear their children? While it is not down to this Government necessarily, over the past decade or 15 years there has been a trend towards getting women out of the home for purely economic reasons when the support should have been to provide the options rather than economically forcing or encouraging them out. It goes back to Charlie McCreevy's tax individualisation which may have started that trend. We are now in a new place and perhaps those women who left the workplace in good times to rear their children may now find themselves with a lower level of pay.