Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also share the concerns that have been expressed by Senator Power and Senator Darragh O'Brien who has been leading it on this side. My involvement came about because I was spokesperson on social protection on our side of the House when it was first introduced in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act. I share all of the opinions voiced by Senator Conway. In fact, I could not have put it as well as he did. I also agree that the Minister is inheriting a legacy but the great US President, Harry Truman, had a sign on his desk that said "the buck stops here." We are dealing with the here and now.

I have met many of those who are suffering as a result of the deferred pension situation. I have looked them in the eye and I presume the Minister has done so as well. When one is dealing with people like that on a human level who have this level of expectation over many years, I would have hated to have been put in a situation where I had been making a contribution and had taken early retirement in the expectation that I was going to get what I paid in only to find that not only was it going to be cut but would be cut so drastically in some cases that it would go down to a less than livable figure. At a time when the Government is trying to encourage more people into private pension schemes although God knows, their policies over the past couple of years in that regard would lead one to question that commitment and when there is a time bomb in respect of pensions going forward, I would have thought that the Government would have seen the signs here and taken advantage of it. Apart from the technicalities involved, the difficulty is that under the most recent EUROSTAT statistics, this Government has now received an extra €2 billion as a result of the revision of the statistics. I know the Minister is very aware of the statistics and he is able to draw on his considerable mental resources to be able to put forward an argument, as we have often see here in this House, which is admirable. He will know better than most that there is a high level of expectation of this Government as a result of the turnaround in the economy, all of which we welcome. That level of expectation has extended to these ordinary people. They are ordinary five eighths who will now find themselves with a significant reduction in their pensions as a result of this. I plead with the Minister to at least try to do something to address this issue despite its complexities which I fully recognise.