Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I allow the Deputy to contribute again, on 30 October we received a response from the office of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation regarding Mr. Gaynor's petition. To summarise, the response indicates a need for a change in legislation. The Minister and the Department made the point that, under equality legislation, including European, if a company was to say that it would not employ someone beyond the age of 65 years, defending that stance would be difficult legally.

If a company were to say it would not employ one beyond the age of 65 it would be very hard, legally, to defend that. Mr. Gaynor makes the point that when somebody is 65 the last thing that person wants to do is to go to the Equality Tribunal to defend his or her position. Maybe clarity and legislation are needed to state that the retirement age must be at the point at which the State pension is provided.

Is the committee agreed that we publish this letter on the website as part of the petition documentation? Agreed. This is an ongoing deliberation. We need to engage with the Department and so on.