Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator McDowell qualified what he said. Nobody said it is wrong, but it has not been tested, which is the problem. We are looking into the future.

I agree with the Minister in this case. We need to get this up and running. It has been going on for 30 years. I hope, as Senator McDowell said, that the Minister will get on with this Bill immediately. In some cases, many people may have only five or ten years – I do not know what, but the minimum number of years a person has left - to get into the scheme. Is it five years or ten years? If it is ten years and we have to wait another year to introduce it, that is one year gone out of the ten; it is 10% of the time gone. Perhaps at a future date, for example, five or six years down the road, the Minister could look at a different scheme, such as the Fagan scheme. I hope, as Senator McDowell said, the Minister would get on with this straight away. If it is going to be delayed, this other option could be looked at. However, I hope the Minister will initiate this straight away.