Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also want to raise the issue of pensions. Thousands of women get smaller pensions because they left the workforce before 1994 to care for children. Others are taking a pension hit because they once had a summer job or worked part-time for a while. It is estimated that 23,000 females have been hit with lower payments due to changes to State pension eligibility rules in 2012 made by the then Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, to make it more difficult to qualify for a full pension. Of all of the cuts that the Labour Party made when it was in Government, this is probably the most shameful. Retired women lose more than €1,500 a year on average according to Age Action. This also means that women affected will not get the full €5 increase in the State pension in the budget next March. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has admitted that it is wrong. He called it bonkers. I would say that is probably not the right word. It was mean, sly, regressive and nasty. Here is the point.