Mr. Tony Kenny:

Go raibh maith agat as an deis thairiscint dom chun aghaidh a thabhairt duit ar an mBille atá molta anseo inniu. I thank the joint committee for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution to this important draft legislation. I am here in a personal capacity. My interest in the proposed legislation is personal and also has regard to the broader policy implications. I refer to the article by Professor John FitzGerald in The Irish Timeson 10 November 2015 in which he set out the economic policy argument in support of the proposition in a far better and more trenchant way than I could.

I am 66 years of age and fortunate to be in full-time employment. If the current situation continues - I see no reason it should not - I will be required to retire when I reach the age of 70 years. As the committee will have discerned, I work for a progressive employer who takes account of the contribution older employees can make. Even so, in a few short years I will be surplus to requirements. My mother worked until she was 73 years old and would have kept going but for the fact that the firm for which she worked closed down. Many well known people continue to work past normal retirement age, including President Michael D. Higgins and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan. This suggests the concept of “retirement age” is a societal construct which draws its legitimacy from our culture rather than from any scientific or biological fact. If I am able to continue to do my work in a capable manner that meets the expectations of my employer, what relevance does my age have to the decision on when I need to stop working? Apart from convention, I do not think it has any relevance.

For many working people, men in particular, their job is a vital source of identity and self-worth. If I am enjoying my work and performing well, why should I be forced to stop simply on age grounds? Many employees look forward to the opportunities retirement may bring and the Bill will not alter this in any way. While I may be in a minority in being less enthusiastic about retirement, it is an important equality consideration. The decision to retire is very personal and age is just one of the factors that should be taken into account.

Regarding the broader policy issue, the dependency ratio has been referred to by many speakers. It worries policy makers throughout the world. Professor John FitzGerald has pointed out that the Irish dependency ratio has been trending upwards since 2005. It seems to be an odd policy choice to require people to become dependent. For many older people, the State pension system is the only, limited, support they have to sustain a basic standard of living. Approximately 50% of citizens have no other pension entitlement. Where continued employment is a possibility, it seems perverse to require a person to depend on the State pension. Although there is no legislatively defined mandatory retirement age, there are a raft of regulations, contacts of employment and pension schemes that de factolegislate for it. While youth unemployment is a very significant policy concern, the shorthand connection drawn between the numbers leaving the workforce and the numbers wishing to join it, to which my colleague referred as the “lump of labour” theory, is very simplistic.

The Minister of State is not opposing the Bill, although he raised questions about how it might impact on employers’ contractual rights. It is the proper function of legislation to address this issue and it is the subject of the Bill. The proposed change would not disadvantage any sensible employer by allowing productive employees to remain working. While there may be differences of opinion between an employer and an employee about whether the employee is productive, there is a raft of legislation to deal with this issue. The proposed legislation would remove an important discriminatory barrier for a minority of employees. In doing so it would add to the progressive transformation of our society, sustained by the Oireachtas, in a small but significant way. Deputy Anne Ferris is to be commended for taking the lead on it.