Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Craughwell for putting forward these amendments which are very important. As Senator Ardagh has said, these relate to many issues and we have had significant discussions on pensions in this House. We talked about the fact that care was not recognised properly in our pension system. We had some improvement whereby care credits were being recognised as to someone's pension entitlements. The problem was that while there were credits finally being given for care, the overall amount of credits or contributions that were being required does look like it is going to go up. That is a concern as we are moving from a situation where one might have been able to access a reasonable pension with 20 years contributions, whereas now it might be 30 years total contributions, or indeed 40 years. I will certainly fight this tooth and nail if it is attempted.

Very few people have a full contributory record. What I know from having worked with the Older and Bolder alliance was that the vast majority of those people on reduced pensions were women. The care issue is one that we have discussed at length in this House and I recognise that it is not part of this Bill, although I notice some positive care-related measures in the social welfare Bill. The real concern is, however, in regard to another gap that might emerge where if one chooses to enter public life, a person will create another gap for himself or herself. It will be much harder for that person to have that 30 years of contributions that one might need. It is very hard to see how one would do it. It is of particular concern.

It is different for those who might have owned their own businesses or have been in self-employment. If one has been an employee and has been paying PRSI in that way, however, then one is creating a new gap in one's total contributions. If that person is a woman and already has a gap that is only partially being recognised through care credits, it is just another way in which people will find themselves falling short of the requirement that they need to meet for a proper pension. People may say, "Yes", but will that person not get a brilliant pension from being a public servant, and so on? For councillors it is not the same, but for Oireachtas Members, there is, of course, a pension. There are also, however, the many years of life in between potentially losing one's seat, if one does opt for public life. People are also aware that perhaps these systems and measures were designed on an assumption that people go into politics and stay there their whole life and leave at 65.Not everybody is going to be a career politician. Sometimes people who are passionate about issues enter politics for five or ten years. I can think of excellent people who were in this House and, indeed, in the other House last year who contributed brilliantly over a five-year period but are not here now. They are now trying to find their way in the world again but many are quite a long way away from reaching 65 or 66 years. I am glad that there seems to be a movement against raising the age one can qualify for a pension to 67 years. These people have a big gap ahead of them in terms of what they do and they cannot avail of the Intreo schemes and back-to-education option. Leaving aside the financial amount one receives as a jobseeker's payment, it is also the suite of supports to help one make the next step in one's career that people do not have an entitlement to if their contributory record has disappeared.

In the very first Social Welfare Bill that I debated back in 2016 I secured a small but important concession because the then Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, agreed to my proposal. Previously one could only make voluntary contributions for a period of 12 months but now that has been increased to five years. That fact is very relevant if one knows people who lived abroad for a couple of years and have come back or tried a new career or life abroad but things did not work out. I urge people to be aware of the increased period and make voluntary contributions before the five-year gap, although that is not necessarily now an option for many people.

We have discussed the gender issue in terms of councillors. In the past few years, councillors have quit mid-term because political life was so hard and they, as councillors, were paid so little. If there are no contributions made in the previous two years, then a person is pretty invisible when it comes to a lot of what is offered by the social protection system. One can imagine that when one approaches two years in the job when political life is hard and is not paying as much as hoped for, then one might well decide to leave. One asks oneself why stay in the job because if one does not jump now then one's social protection record will not provide entitlements. Therefore, we need to make sure this issue is addressed. While a gap in contributions has not been mentioned in this Social Welfare Bill, I encourage the Minister to consider it and talk to people from all across the House as to how it might be addressed into the future. A total contributions approach is not part of this year's social welfare budget but I would love us to have an opportunity to discuss how we can make the system equitable and fair.