Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

This section has been debated already, but I would like to expand on a few points that were made earlier. It amazes me that, as a social democrat, the Minister for Social Protection can put this to the Dáil, when it is the essence of social democracy to advance the cause of workers rather than pulling back the advances made by them over the past number of years. I am in the same generation as many people in the Visitors' Gallery and elsewhere in this country - the generation of 18 year olds who started work in 1978 and 1979. It is this generation onwards that will be affected by the extension in the age at which the State pension is paid. They are the workers who will be looking at two or three extra years of work. It is an absolute disgrace. These are the people who lived through the recession of the 1980s, along with the period of high prices and high mortgage interest, and stayed here when many people were forced to emigrate. Now we are back to the same situation. What we are getting from the Minister, as a so-called social democrat, is more of the same austerity measures imposed by the IMF and the EU.

The Minister says this measure has been talked about for nearly 20 years, from 1994 onwards, but why is it so important, all of a sudden, that it be introduced? It is because the IMF and the EU are telling us to do so. There should be a decent debate in society. All the discussion has taken place in smoky back rooms with the trade union leaders, partnership members and so on, in an entirely different situation from the one we are facing now. The Minister did not address the point, although I raised it previously, that this was being discussed in 2008 when we were at the height of the Celtic tiger boom and before we hit the recession. At that time we had 4% or 5% unemployment, but now, when we have a quarter of a million unemployed, the provision to extend the age of eligibility for the State pension to 68 is being introduced. This is obviously the start of a process in which the age of eligibility will be raised again in two or three years' time because the State, based on the arguments the Minister is putting forward, cannot sustain the State pension even for a reduced number of workers over the next few years.

This provision is mandatory rather than voluntary. There are plenty of people who do want to continue working; they enjoy the work they do. It depends on the type of work one does, whether it is office work, more labour-intensive work, or night work. Night workers include nurses, in the public sector, and a vast range of cleaners. All these people work terrible hours and will be dependent on the State pension, but their conditions are only going to get worse over the next few years. Under the Croke Park agreement, they will be working longer and for less money, and their conditions will not have the same level of protection. They will be expected to work extra hours and different types of hours. The nature of work will change over the next number of years. It is people in their late 40s and 50s who will be affected by this. It is scandalous, and the Minister should be ashamed of herself.

I support the points made by my colleagues. This is not a Private Members' motion tabled by the Opposition, which the Government might not be interested in debating. It is an amendment to the Government's Bill. It is an absolute scandal that the Minister's colleagues are not here supporting her on this Bill. Their role in the Dáil should be questioned.

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