Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I have my own opinion on retirement. To be frank, I believe that it is a disaster for a lot of people. Income is the major problem they have. A lot of people would be more open to the idea of changing their work situation if they had adequate income to fall back on and to allow them to go in new directions. One of the reasons they feel hard done by is that they face a drop in income. At the same time, some people do it very well and there is a lot to be said for that. However, for people who do not have an adequate private pension to fall back on, it is very difficult. I support the intention of the legislation. The new chair of the Industrial Development Authority Ireland was before the committee recently. He headed up a very large accounting practice in Dublin. I noted a point he made, which was that he had to retire even though he was leading a very large organisation. That seemed bizarre. The organisation was doing really well and he left at the top of his game, but only because it was mandatory, although I believe he had got a two-year extension. It raises the question of why we are getting rid of productive workers.

On the one hand, companies want to keep people who are efficient, so why would they say they would feel trapped by the idea of abolishing this provision and that mandatory retirement helps them to ensure they do not end up with employees whom, after ageing another bit, they do not want to keep but whom they are bound to keep in employment?