Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It gives me great pleasure to support Deputy Anne Ferris's Bill on the abolition of a mandatory retirement age. I introduced an Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill in the Seanad in 2012 on behalf of Fianna Fáil, which had the same objective. I brought that Bill to Second Stage but did not push it to a vote in case the Government chose not to support it. However, the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, who was in attendance, indicated his support for the proposal.

In the past 40 years, the Oireachtas has introduced many progressive legislative measures to ensure people in the workplace are not discriminated against on grounds of gender, race or sexual orientation.