Ms Mary Murphy:

Literally all we would need to do to abolish mandatory retirement is take out the exemption that exists in the Employment Equality Act. It would not even involve adding anything. It would just require ensuring that the Employment Equality Act's prohibition on age discrimination would also apply to mandatory retirement. I do not accept the premise that all older workers are going to remain in work to a point where their employer is forced to get rid of them. They might work past the age of 66 and then decide to retire at 67 or 68. They are still going to retire at some point and are not going to work indefinitely, so the option for them to decide for themselves to step away is still going to be part of it. I am repeating myself but the Unfair Dismissals Act is there to ensure employers follow certain standards and procedures when they encounter cases where workers are unable to meet their contractual obligations. I do not think abolishing mandatory retirement would mean every single older worker would then have to be brought through that process.