Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----and that is the reason. I do not know if the Minister of State is suggesting, for example, that there is some kind of constitutional obstacle to placing this kind of particular burden on public officeholders. There certainly was not a constitutional obstacle to the pension related deduction that was introduced after the financial crash. Therefore, there is a clear rationale and I ask the Minister of State to reflect on it, and not just him personally. With the greatest of respect to the Minister of State, as he has seen, I have been willing to acknowledge the bona fides of his argument where it eventually became clear to me, and I apologise for my own slowness in that respect. However, I ask him to take this recommendation on its merits and not just to fob it off by saying that it is useful for a discussion at another time. Now is the time.