Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Turning to Deputy Denis Naughten's questions, I am in favour of what he said. We should take away the legislative barrier to facilitating people in the private sector to work longer. In the year 2000, Ireland was ranked 16th on the European Union league table for life expectancy. This year, we are ranked number one. I did a double take when I saw those figures because I did not expect us to be ranked number one. That will be the story for the next decade in terms of European life expectancy and life expectancy generally, notwithstanding obesity and other challenges. The modern world has to reflect that. The only qualification I would offer is that I have a sense people want to cherry-pick the recommendations of the Commission on Pensions for the more palatable aspects, but are less inclined to cherry-pick the contents of its report for the less palatable political implications. There will be difficulties ahead. The Government will make decisions in the next number of weeks around the recommendations of the Commission on Pensions. I know that the Deputy's committee has reported on that matter and that there are many issues which arise. I note the point he made about the technical paper in which it was pointed out that if the working life age was extended and there was no barrier to people working longer, it would reduce costs.