Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I took Senator Zappone’s point about the real difficulties for women in the workplace, as well as their entry and exit patterns due to family circumstances. Obviously, the imposition of USC on an employer’s contribution to a PRSA is important in this respect.

I cannot pretend I entirely understood the Minister of State’s technical rejoinder to the recommendation yesterday, but I did get the gist of it. Leaving that aside, I was more persuaded by the fact the Minister of State had committed to a comprehensive review of the overall pension scenario. There are other issues attaching to pensions; it is not restricted to the PRSA issue. I would like this debate to be broadened more to encompass the entire manner in which people provide for themselves into old age. I have referred before to the Irish people’s penchant for acquiring property into old age, the treatment of investment properties and the imposition of USC on gross income even though a loss could have been made on a property.

The Minister of State must bear in mind the wider issues of age and aging, going beyond the simple issue of pension products that need to be taken into account in any tax review as to how people provide for themselves in old age.