Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We agree to No. 1, without debate, which is to facilitate the banking inquiry. People worked together on that.

I wish to bring two matters to the attention of the Deputy Leader. Can we arrange a debate on pension provision in this country? I listened with great interest to her party leader, the Tánaiste, Deputy Joan Burton, announce another report into how to improve pension provision. I agree with her that less than 50%, there or thereabouts, of people in this country make provision for their pension. However, one can understand the reason when this Government has taken €2.5 billion out of the pension pots of people who went to the bother of actually saving for pensions and when it did more to undermine pension provision than any other Government in the history of the State when it brought forward the State Airports (Shannon Group) Bill 2014 to butcher airport employees' pensions and take benefits from people who are legally entitled to them.

Having said all of that, I would like to look to the future which is about how we can improve pension propositions available currently. The Tánaiste has some ideas which I have read in media reports and it would be worthwhile for us to arrange a debate in the future - it does not need to happen next week – where we can feed into that. I do not think another expert report will do much. I will not labour the point but the Tánaiste and this Government have much making up to do in regard to restoring people's confidence that if they save for a pension, they get what they put in.

I bring to the attention of the House quite a dangerous and, I do not mind saying, a sinister incident, although some of these Socialist Party protesters and Sinn Féin pseudo-protesters have a problem if one actually says "sinister". I refer to what happened to my colleagues and the colleagues of those opposite last night in Fingal County Council. Councillors who had attended a council meeting, along with staff of Fingal County Council, were prevented from leaving the council car park for two hours. More sinister was the type of selection these protesters used. They wanted to go after one Independent councillor purely on the basis that he had put down a motion saying that people had the right to protest but that people had the right to work and that those installing water meters should not be treated in the way they are being treated and that they are there to do a job. The protesters asked the Socialist Party councillors to point out that councillor and the Labour Party councillors on Fingal County Council. They were asked by Paul Murphy's crew – he was obviously busy yesterday and detained elsewhere – to point out the Labour Party members and, along with the Sinn Féin lot, they then decided who would be let out of the car park and who would not be let out. That is an absolute disgrace.

These scumbags, which is all they are, blocked people-----