Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to tease out the matter further with the Minister. This is about ensuring that the system works a little bit harder in order that people stay engaged. It is different if a person is told that due to his or her work as a carer for the past two or five years, he or she is entitled to X, Y, or Z in terms of resources, schemes, starting a business initiatives or educational options. It is about looking through the list of options and teasing them out. I am happy to engage with the Minister on that. It is a different thing to suggest that anybody can walk into an Intreo office, as opposed to stating that his or her contributions are being recognised both in later years and in a more recent way, which perhaps might be reflected in opportunities for that person. It is about encouraging people to re-enter the workforce because the fact is that Ireland has an extraordinarily high level of women who drop out of the workplace and do not re-enter it. This was an attempt at creating a constructive mechanism in terms of building channels for re-entry.