Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

There is a certain irony, if not contradiction, in the view being expressed by the Senator now and the view he expressed in the context of the last amendment. Apparently, if Members of the Oireachtas are out for two years, by way of an election, they should not be allowed to come back into the same scheme but he wants to provide that for everybody else, in this particular amendment. There is no logic in that. If the Senator was a Member of the House, there was a quick election and he lost his seat, the Senator does not want to be allowed to get back into the same scheme that he might have been a member of for 15 years. That was the substance of the Senator's last amendment. However, a general civil servant is to be allowed to go off for two years and come back into the same scheme. There is no consistency in that.

The view is that a person should be allowed to come back into the scheme if there is a gap of around six months. Anything beyond that is not acceptable. We must have a cut-off point and we believe six months is fair. Of course, if an individual is on a structured career break, that does not apply. Therefore, an individual can take a structured career break and come back and slot into the same scheme. That would cater for most reasonable situations.