Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Progress continues to be made between Departments, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General on the drafting of the Bill. While the Dáil Business Committee decided to grant a waiver to the normal pre-legislative scrutiny process in respect of the Bill, it has asked all relevant Ministers to brief their appropriate committees by 9 October. It is expected that the final version of the Bill will be brought to Government shortly thereafter for approval, to publish and to bring before the Oireachtas. It will be essential ensure swift progress of this legislation to minimise any uncertainty for businesses. There are only 80 plus days, or 2,000 hours, as mentioned by the Chairman, remaining before Brexit so we need to get this Bill through as quickly as possible.

The pension age is not impacted by this legislation. I will bring legislation before the House before the end of this year to provide that the pension age will not increase to 67 next year as anticipated. It will remain at 66 until the commission on pensions, which we are in the process of establishing, has reviewed the matter and made a recommendation on it to Government. To clarify, people who will reach age 66 by 1 January next should apply for their pension now. I think some people were a bit unsure about that so I take this opportunity to get that information out there.