Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. The truth is that I could bring in a list of people who have retired from the public service in education, health, the Garda, the Army and various other places, many of whom are back working in the public service through agencies and are suffering no abatement whatsoever. Then there is a small number who came directly into a public service job and they are being abated. That is grossly unfair. It is a fault in the legislation. The former Minister, Deputy Howlin, is right - because these people are working for agencies, their pensions cannot be touched, but because some poor unfortunate takes a job directly, their pension can be affected. I appreciate that the Minister of State is here answering for the Department, not on his own behalf. The Department has to look at this. We either apply abatement uniformly across the board, irrespective of who the employer is, or we abate nobody. It is one or the other. We have to make this fair and equitable and it is not that at present.