Ms Mary Murphy:

We position ourselves as a human rights and equality organisation, and there is a great deal of discussion on mandatory retirement that does not have those issues at its centre. There is talk of economic concerns, which are real and a part of the conversation, and convenience or practicalities within the workplace, but people are not talking about the rights of the workers who are being forced out. There are employment rights associated with preserving access and opportunity to work.

It needs to be acknowledged that, if people are forced out of the workplace at 65 years of age, many of them cannot just find another job. For many people in many sectors, it is difficult to get work at that age if they are not staying in their current workplaces. Older people are in jobs they have had for years and are not moving between workplaces. Doing so is quite rare.

We are seeking a better centring of the question of what this is doing for rights and equality. It is fundamentally and undeniably discrimination. It is recognised as discrimination in the Employment Equality Acts. They allow it as an acceptable form of discrimination, but it is discrimination nevertheless. If something is discriminatory, the onus is on the people trying to justify it to offer arguments in its favour. The onus is not on the people opposing it. We need to see a justification for a system that is inherently and formally discriminatory.