Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The amendment has been ruled out of order so I shall speak to the section. To be honest, when I read the Bill I did not see the anomaly that the retired members have shared with us. I cannot understand for the life of me why we would take people's benefits that they have accrued over a lifetime of service. In addition, just because we are organising or re-organising to make this Bill more efficient it seems that we would interrupt those benefits and put people on a lesser scale. Why and what is the logic for doing so? Is there any movement so that we can assure that the people who have served the State in the Department of Transport for many years do not get maligned by what potentially is happening in the Bill that I did not see before today?