Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will take Mr. Taft up on that point. He made a valid point regarding the data from the Department of Social Protection and the committee will seek that information. To bring him back to a very important sentence in his evidence, he stated:

Many workers, although not all, will wish to remain in their employment until their State pension becomes payable due to their continued ability to do their job and the fact that they will see a significant drop in their income if forced to retire.

Following on from the remarks of the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the points Mr. Taft has made on the issue of pension sustainability, if the pension age is not increased, is there an incentive for people who are fit, well and capable of continuing to work to do so? In terms of that cohort of people, is there evidence from other European countries where people have continued to work? Mr. Taft made the point that Ireland is seeing far more people working beyond their 66th birthday. Does the increase in the pension age need to be introduced as an incentive to keep people who are fit, well and capable of remaining in employment working? What would be the impact of just getting rid of the ban on people remaining in work at 65 or 66? Is there any evidence to support that at the moment? I invite Mr. Taft or Ms Ryan to respond on those questions.