It is welcome that some progress has been made on the issue of people whose pensions were detrimentally affected by the Act passed in 2012. I have raised the issue many times. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, has been working hard on this and received Cabinet agreement on allowing post-2012 pensioners choose between their current rate and that to be introduced under the total contribution approach. In most cases, people will gain and those who might not gain will not have to change over. I know there is work to be done on correcting the losses sustained in recent years.

Yet again I raise the need for a competent independent regulator to rule on operating conditions at Dublin Airport. Passenger numbers hit 30 million last year, up from 18 million in 2011 when Fine Gael came into government. This is a great success story for tourism but the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, and local residents need clarity on planning conditions at Dublin Airport where a new runway is under construction. If the existing planning conditions are applied, traffic at Dublin Airport will be restricted to 27 million passengers which is 3 million fewer. The impact of that on Dublin Airport, with Brexit looming, is there for everyone to see. Each job at Dublin Airport is followed by nine ancillary jobs. Transatlantic passenger figures are up as well because we have USA pre-clearance and there were 3.5 million passengers last year.

Dublin Airport is one of the most important economic assets in the country. It supports or facilitates 117,300 jobs and contributes €8.3 billion to the national economy. It was 78 years old yesterday. It supports 20,000 jobs directly. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport needs to come back in here. He cannot go on ignoring this problem. A regulator needs to be put in place and if there is a need for legislation to do it, we need to fast track that. We cannot leave this matter hanging in the balance and creating uncertainty for the people who live around the airport and the important jobs created by the airport and the potential to create more.

I ask the Leader to call the Minister in to explain his plans. He has had ample opportunity to address this issue. He promised us that the Irish Aviation Authority would rule on this and then decided this would not be the case. He owes it to the people around the airport and to the Irish economy to rule on this and do so quickly.

Both sides of the House might need counselling to prevent the fracture in the harmonious marriage between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. I welcome the closing of the pensions gap as announced by the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty. I attended a briefing on this by Age Action and other organisations last week, and their protest outside this House. The main concern is that the pensioners will not receive the money they have lost since 2012. This has been confirmed. They have been wrongly receiving the reduced State pension since 2012 but none of that money will be returned.

In the solution brought forward today, the Government has failed to do this and to give them back the sum of about €30 per week that they were losing. The new system is to be implemented from March this year without back money. As a means to address the impact of the 2012 change on over 42,000 people, the Government is bringing forward a total contributions model for these people. They will now have their pensions reviewed based on their own entire working lives. I do welcome the review as well as the introduction of the new home caring credit for up to 20 years to assist workers who took time out to raise families and care for others. The long-awaited action by the Government on this matter is welcome. We must also recognise, however, that pensioners will be bitterly disappointed not to receive what was taken from them and what was rightly theirs since 2012.

I agree with the previous speaker. Even though we are delighted with the changes, there needs to be a lot more done. I firmly agree with that.

I would like to raise an international issue that has very disturbing local consequences. The UK construction and service company, Carillion, which is involved in six projects in Ireland, collapsed this month. The six Irish projects include five schools, one of which is the Carlow Institute of Further Education. Carillion employed 43,000 people globally and was, until its troubles, a 200 year-old company.

The issue I have is in my own home county of Carlow. Carillion is a 50% shareholder in the company constructing Tyndall College and Carlow Institute of Further Education. Although the Department of Education and Skills assures me that 90% of the project is complete, what about the last 10%? What is left to be completed? Is it the doors, floors, or walls? What is not finished? Every time I drive by, I see that there is a lot of work still to be done. The last time I checked, 90% was not the same as 100%.

This is very worrying for parents, teachers, managers, students and for the future. We have no timescale. Carlow needs this project to be finished and I would like the Minister to tell us when and how that will occur. If the company contracted for the project has been forced into compulsory liquidation, will the Department roll up its sleeves and finish the last 10%? This is crucial. We have a fabulous college that needs to be finished. I am aware that the Minister for Education and Skills was in Carlow last week. However, as of yet we have got no commitment. I am asking for a full commitment that the last 10% will be finished and that the college will be completed.

I express sympathy on the passing of the late Dolores O'Riordan, a native of Ballybricken in Limerick. I attended the funeral over the weekend. As Dolores sat behind me in school, I knew her then. She was a very fine person and a great ambassador not only for Limerick but for Ireland. She was a great performer. I offer my sympathy to her mother, Eileen, her siblings and the rest of the family.

On the pension announcement today, in the past I have raised the issue of ladies and the marriage bar and the number of people who lost out in their pensions. It is a welcome announcement by the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection today that people's accumulated contributions are going to be taken into account and also that there will be 20 years allowed for the homemakers and carers and those who stayed at home to rear their children. This is very welcome news. People do not have to contact the Department. The Department will contact those whom it thinks are affected. It will be effective from March 2018, which is most welcome. As has been said already, 42,000 people have been affected by this in the past. The development is most welcome.