Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Let me deal with that. There are two elements to the full explanation. Abatement does apply, but the change I am bringing about in this Bill is that all pensions and salaries will be aggregated. People who retire on more than one pension as things stood were not subject to the top levy, but under the Bill the pensions will be aggregated to ensure everybody is treated in a like manner. That is a very important initiative in terms of fairness.

During the Second Stage debate in the House last week I indicated that where people are employed on a contract basis the abatement will be applied to the actual contract fee, where they are re-employed on a longer-term basis it will be applied to the pension but the abatement will apply in each circumstance.