Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-11-24-Speech-2-770-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20151124.31.2-770-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I would like to thank the Commissioner for her response. The figures on the gender pay gap and the pension gap are really a cause for huge concern. In my own country, Ireland, the gender pay gap is just over 14%, the overall earnings gap between men and women is almost 35%, and the pension gap is 40%. Now those are shocking statistics, and I suppose the questions that we must answer here this evening are, first of all, how can we narrow the current pension gap and, secondly, what can we do to ensure that the pensions of those now in employment are adequate and sustainable?
I was very pleased to hear you mention a number of possible solutions. For example, you mentioned survivors’ pensions and also the idea of minimum pensions or some kind of minimum income for those past retirement. I fully support those proposals. Earlier we had a debate on healthy workplaces and healthy workers, and we need to ensure that we maintain those workplaces, promote a good work-life balance and try to ensure flexible arrangements within working time so that, if people want to stay on working longer, they can.
You specifically referred to credits for some kind of involuntary absence from work, whether that be for illness or for caring duties. I think we have a very fundamental question to answer at EU level and national level, and it is this: is it acceptable that those who take time off to care for those who need care will be condemned to a much greater risk of poverty in old age? In my view it is not acceptable, because society, as we have constructed it, relies on family and unpaid carers. Health systems would collapse without them and social security systems would be unsustainable. Therefore, as a society, we have to integrate caring responsibilities into our social security and pension systems."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples