Mr. Pat Mellon:

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament offers a strong, unified voice representing the needs and rights of older people at local, national and European levels. Our aim is to influence policy and decisions that affect the lives of older people. We seek to enable and encourage older people to self-advocate and to build capacity and confidence to speak for themselves on all issues. Our vision is an Ireland where older people are valued as equal citizens, can enjoy the full protection of their human rights and are full and active participants in society.

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament thanks the Oireachtas committee for the opportunity to engage and outline our views on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the employment Bill 2024. We met a cohort of our members to listen to their views on this key issue and the following content is the result of that discussion.

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament has at the core of its work the issue of equality and rights for older people. We work to ensure the implementation of policy commitments pertinent to ageing and older people. A fundamental element of this relates to ensuring our members and older people generally have security of income in their older years. Central to this is the choice to work up until and beyond the State pension age. One person said:

I really resented being told "I was too old to continue working" it also made me feel useless. One day I was senior member of my firm, offering key value and expertise, the next I was out, all because of by birthday and age.

The current system whereby employers can and do enforce retirement ages into contracts prior to the State pension age needs to change. It is an ageist and discriminatory practice. This is particularly relevant given that we will have a population with 1.5 million people over 65 years and older by 2051. That figure is from a Central Statistics Office report from 2022. We are also seeing that age discrimination cases are on the rise. Not only do employers need to address age inequality but they also need to create age-friendly workplaces.

We believe strongly in the rights of older people to continue to contribute to society in all areas, including choice regarding their working life. In the past few years, we have worked with many retired worker-staff associations whose members have similar experiences and concerns relating directly to their date and age of retirement and the lack of clarity relating to legal age for retirement. Currently, people who had to retire when they reached the age of 65 must seek social welfare benefit payment until they reach the age of 66 and cannot get the State pension or avail of supplementary benefits. Breda, one of our members, said:

I am at a loss to understand with no legal age for retirement how I was told 65 was the magic number. I wanted and was more than able to continue, no one can explain this to me.

The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament believes strongly in the right of older people to choose their retirement age. For some, having entered the workplace in their teens and into work requiring physical labour, their capacity to continue working may be beyond their physical health. We believe this needs further debate and discussion and a more nuanced approach than the current system. Others are more than able and capable of continuing to work beyond 66 and would wish to do so for a variety reasons, some of which relate to financial security. Having the option to continue to work longer and pay into their pension, both State and occupational, would be welcomed.

A key factor for the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament is the opportunity of sending a message that older people have a lot of experience and knowledge that do not cease to exist at 66 years of age. They can and do offer a genuine contribution that enhances and supports wider society.

We again thank members for their time.