End gender discrimination: €300m is small price to pay

THERE are certain events in the history of the State that continue to engage, concern, challenge and even shame us.

They include, of course, the connivance between Church and State that facilitated the gross abuse of children. That, at least, has been recognised and addressed — albeit imperfectly — within a system of restitution.

What has been ignored or neglected is an historic anomaly that discriminates overwhelmingly against older women who were forced to leave employment because of the notorious “marriage bar” and who now find themselves without a full pension as a result.