As spokesman for jobs in the Seanad, I welcome the fact that Sparkasse is attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. It has made an interesting proposal that I believe could be of great value to many SMEs.

Like Senator Kieran O'Donnell, I wish to raise the issue of pensions. It is a fact that 23,000 women are disadvantaged by the current situation, which the Minister for Finance has described as "bonkers". This legislation, as members will know, was only introduced in 2012. It penalises women who left work to rear children, to care for vulnerable people and to care for the elderly. I am struck by the fact that even at a time when we had no money in this country, and I was in the thick of it, we found money to compensate women who had been damaged by symphysiotomy. We sought to address the Magdalen laundries issue. When I was Minister for Health, we put in place a commission of inquiry into mother and baby homes. All of these issues affect women. Our historical treatment of women has been poor. We now have a situation where we continue to discriminate against women, in their pensions, who care for our children - the future of this nation.

It has been mentioned that it will take €290 million to correct this matter but it is not available. I think the Minister has done a very good job on the budget. There will be issues around stamp duty on farms, and that is for sure. As many as 23,000 women have been disadvantaged and my calculation leads me to believe that it will cost the Exchequer €34.5 million per annum to fix the discrepancy from this point on, as opposed to €290 million retrospectively. I ask the Leader to call upon the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Minister for Finance to come to this House and give us some indication of a plan or roadmap that will start addressing this clear injustice to women.

I shall finish by saying that an injustice one does not know about is one thing. The injustice that is current and that we do know about, and that would appear to continue to discriminate against women in terms of the extra €5 that we have produced for pensioners in their weekly income, is another matter. It seems to be in doubt that these women will get the full amount of the increase. This is a current injustice that we have created in our time and one that we must address if we are true republicans in a republic of equal opportunity and treatment.

I join with the call made here today for the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to be invited to this House to debate the whole issue of women deserving fair State pensions. As has been said, the Minister for Finance has acknowledged that the existing regime has thrown up bonkers results. The people who pay the price are a cohort that is comprised predominantly of women. It tells a tale about our history.

At the time these women, who may have worked earlier in their lives, took time out to look after their children. They did not have much choice in the matter. At the time there was no such thing as child care or subsidies for child care. We also know that the marriage ban in the Civil Service ensured many of them had to leave their jobs.

As a result, even as we speak, there are women approaching retirement age who will lose out a portion of their pension every week because of changes that were made in 2012. Clearly, those changes have led to an inequality. Irish society strives to address inequalities all of the time. This inequality is being borne by women.

One can argue that these are the very women who have raised the generations who have made this country what it is today and I think they deserve more. They paid contributions. However, because there was a gap in their service and through the method of calculation, it means that nearly 23,000 women receive less of a pension than they would have been entitled to prior to 2012. Ironically, people with fewer contributions but a more compact span over which they worked will receive a greater pension. That shows that a pension is not based on one's contributions.

I very much welcome the honesty shown by the Minister for Finance in acknowledging this situation. We need action and to talk about how we will address the inequality. Every week that passes these women lose money and more women are entering the system all of the time. This pension situation goes to the heart of many of the principles that we have talked about here, but mainly equality. Basically, these women have paid into a system, the rules were changed through no fault of theirs and they have lost out.

Yes.

I would like to think that we can look after them at this juncture. A debate on the matter should be a matter of priority. I have spoken to many women who have been affected and also to the Taoiseach in his previous role as Minister for Social Protection. I know that a review is due. We should open the debate here in order to find ways to address the matter.

I agree wholeheartedly with colleagues on the pension scenario. Personally, I would have preferred no tax cuts in this year's budget-----

Well said.

-----or, indeed, next year's budget because there are many legal issues that need to be dealt with and we should prioritise them. That is my view. I have always articulated my view to both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. Overall the budget has been exceptionally positive. There certainly is a feeling of optimism and the Apple decision today adds to the optimism. This new confidence is important.

I wish to acknowledge that today is World Sight Day. I wish to acknowledge the more than 250,000 people in this country who suffer blindness or are visually impaired. I commend An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, because yesterday, the day after the budget, he spent an hour launching a bursary for the National Council for the Blind of Ireland that encourages young people with sight loss to attend third level. The bursary is entirely funded by the NCBI, which does an exceptional amount of fundraising.

The bursary will benefit a number of young people next year. Yesterday, the scheme received a strong and significant endorsement from An Taoiseach at Government Buildings. At the event he met some students who will benefit from the bursary and had his photograph taken with them. He also showed the representatives of the NCBI where he displays the Proclamation in Braille, which the NCBI presented to him when I organised for its representatives to meet him when he was the Minister for Social Protection. It is one of a few items that are displayed in his office, which indicates his commitment to making the lives not just of blind or visually impaired people in this country better but people with disabilities in general. I thank him most sincerely for that.

I wish to acknowledge the challenges and difficulties that the Halawa family is facing. It is a disgrace that Ibrahim Halawa has still not been released from prison three weeks after being found innocent of all charges.