James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue I wish to raise here today is one I raised on the Order of Business last week and it was dealt with in the Lower House as well. It is an issue that is not going to go away, namely, the inequity in our pension situation whereby at least 23,000 women are being disadvantaged by the pensions system in a manner which was brought about and exacerbated by legislation passed in 2012. I sought that the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, would come into the House to tell us how she is going to address the issue. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, here today who is responding on behalf of the Minister.

The points I made last week are worth making again. We have a bad history in this country in terms of the manner in which we treat women. It is unjust to have a system in place that punishes women for their act of generosity who took time out from work to rear children, who are the future of our nation, and to care for the elderly and the vulnerable. It is an injustice that cannot be allowed continue. I am acutely aware that this situation has been ongoing for some time and it will cost a considerable sum of money to correct. As far as I am concerned there are two phases to it. One is the ongoing injustice that comes every month with the pension and the injustice of back-payments that are due and should be paid. Many of those affected are citizens who have stood by this country in the worst of times and they are coming to the last quarter of their lives. Some of them may not have a huge amount of time left although we are all living longer, which is good news. However, it is not good news if we start treating a subsection of people in our elderly population differently. When we had very little money in this country in the heat of the crash we ensured that victims of symphisiotomy were compensated. I was there as Minister for Health to make it happen. We also addressed the Magdalen laundries issue and established a commission of inquiry into the mother and baby home in Tuam. Those were all issues that primarily affect women. Men are affected as well but not to the same extent.

I wish to highlight one statistic that has emerged, namely, that 2.9% of men over 65 are living in consistent poverty while just 2.6% of women in that age group were living in consistent poverty. The percentage of women in that age group is a greater absolute number than the number of men. Neither situation is something of which the Government is proud or that we should allow continue. Both situations must be addressed. It certainly does not indicate that women over the age of 65 are doing better than men in terms of their incomes. Acknowledging that there is a big job of work to be done, what I wish to ask the Minister today is how long the review will take and how long it will be before action will be taken? How long will it be before the correction of this injustice to pensioners is addressed? Thankfully, we know unemployment is reducing in this country and, therefore, the burden on the Exchequer from that point of view should be less. We know that the Government is taking in more revenue. The least these women can expect is that the current situation is corrected as quickly as possible and a pathway is developed to address the outstanding back-payments, which is a considerable sum of money.

A loud and clear message needs to go out from here today and I hope it is one the Minister agrees with. I know in my heart she does. We cannot allow the injustice to continue just because we have difficulty in affording it. People can put up with a lot of hardship, and we do, when we are all being treated equally but in this republic of equal opportunities, people are not being treated equally.The individuals in question have done this country a great service and should not be punished any longer for doing so.