Mr. Declan Lawlor:

The issue is choice. One of the difficulties with the current system is that, if someone is forced to retire at 65, he or she can claim the benefit payment for 65-year-olds, but one of its conditions is that he or she has to stop working. Someone cannot work while claiming it. A year later, though, that person can claim the State pension and return to work. For a 12-month period, someone is forced to stop working if he or she has to claim the benefit payment for 65-year-olds. Why is someone suddenly capable of being employed again a year later? It may have more to do with social welfare rules than this particular issue, but the rules around the benefit payment for 65-year-olds – the required number of PRSI contributions and how someone has to have 13 paid contributions in the governing contribution year, which most people do not understand – are overly complex. I would argue for simplification.